Development of chronic kidney disease in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A cohort study

Abstract

Background & Aims Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but cohort studies are limited. We investigated the longitudinal association of NAFLD and its severity with the development of CKD. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of 41,430 adult men and women (average age, 48.9 y) without CKD at baseline who underwent repeated health check-up examinations from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2013. NAFLD status was assessed by ultrasonography, and NAFLD severity was assessed by the NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS). Results The outcome was an incident CKD, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 60 ml/min/1.73 m2. During 200,790 person-years of follow-up (median follow-up of 4.15 years), we identified 691 incident CKD cases. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio for CKD comparing participants with and without NAFLD was 1.22 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.43). The risk of CKD increased progressively with increased NAFLD severity. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for CKD comparing participants with NFS