RESEARCH ARTICLE A Prospective Study of Fatty Liver Index and Incident Hypertension: The KoGES-ARIRANG Study

Background Although non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syn-drome, its influence on hypertension development is poorly understood. We investigated whether fatty liver disease, as assessed by the fatty liver index, could predict the develop-ment of hypertension independently of systemic insulin resistance, inflammatory status and adipokine levels. Methods Prospective cohort study of 1,521 adults (484 men and 1037 women) aged 40 to 70 years without baseline hypertension examined. An equation was used to calculate fatty liver index and classify patients as follows: fatty liver index <30, no non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; fatty liver index60, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; and 30 fatty liver index <60, interme-diate fatty liver index. Results During an average of 2.6 years of follow-up, 153 subjects (10.06%) developed hyperten