[의학신문·일간보사=정광성 기자] It is noteworthy that a study by a Korean research team showed that the deterioration of the histological severity of fatty liver caused by obesity affects lung function.
Professor Hyun-woo Lee of the Department of Pulmonology at Seoul Boramae Hospital (Director Seung-yong Jeong) announced the results of a study that investigated the relationship between the progression of ‘NAFLD’ and the deterioration of lung function, which are caused by smoking and obesity, regardless of drinking.
The research team followed up the liver ultrasound and spirometry data of 6149 adults who visited the Gangnam Center of Seoul National University Hospital from October 2003 to September 2015 and received two or more health checkups for regarding 5 years. A study was conducted on changes in lung function that appeared.
As a result, the 2822 patients diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver had a higher average age and a higher percentage of obese compared to the normal group, and the levels of major indicators related to metabolic diseases such as blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides were also relatively high.
In particular, as the severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver in the subject increased, significant changes in lung function occurred.
The ratio of forced vital capacity (FVC), which means the amount of air that can be forcibly exhaled from the lungs within 1 year, was 46.9% in the normal group, whereas the ratio in the group with the highest severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver was 56.9%, regarding 10 % difference was found.
In addition, the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) also showed a tendency to decrease as the subject’s fatty liver severity increased. In addition, according to the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis, the risk of lung function deterioration increased by up to 1.3 times when the severity of fatty liver worsened.
Accordingly, the research team explained that the increase in the severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver was determined to be an independent association factor for the deterioration of lung function.
Professor Lee Hyun-woo said, “When a lot of fat accumulates in the liver, it is accompanied by metabolic syndrome, a systemic disease that causes abnormal fat metabolism in the body. And maintaining a proper diet will help prevent fatty liver disease and maintain your own lung function,” he advised.
Meanwhile, the results of this study were published online in February in ‘Stomach and Liver’, a SCIE-level international academic journal published by the Korean Society of Gastroenterology.
