Prevalence and risk factors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in breast cancer patients

Aims and background: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in breast cancer patients using liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to investigate factors associated with NAFLD. Methods: We evaluated 104 patients surgically treated for breast cancer at our hospital between September and November 2013. None of the patients had any other causes of secondary hepatic fat accumulation (such as significant alcohol consumption, use of steatogenic medication or inborn disorders). Hepatic fat accumulation was measured using liver MRI perfomed in all patients before surgical treatment. Results: Based on the fat signal percentage from liver MRIs, 19 of 104 breast cancer patients were diagnosed with NAFLD, so the prevalence of NAFLD was 18.3%. In univariate analysis, factors associated with NAFLD were older age, high body mass index, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, elevated aspartate aminotransferase, elevated alanine aminotransferase and elevated triglycerides (TG). In multivariate analysis, factors associated with NAFLD were high body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio [OR] 1.403; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.111-1.771; p = 0.005), type 2 DM (OR 11.872; 95% CI 1.065-132.373; p = 0.044), and an elevated TG level (OR 50.267; 95% CI 4.409-573.030; p = 0.002). Conclusions: The prevalence of NAFLD in breast cancer patients was not different from that of the general population. High BMI, type 2 DM and an elevated serum TG level were factors associated with NAFLD.