Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the risk of progression to steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma have been identified as major public health concerns. We have demonstrated the feasibility and potential value of measuring liver fat content by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) i...

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Main Authors: Henry R Wilman, Matt Kelly, Steve Garratt, Paul M Matthews, Matteo Milanesi, Amy Herlihy, Micheal Gyngell, Stefan Neubauer, Jimmy D Bell, Rajarshi Banerjee, E Louise Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172921&type=printable
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author Henry R Wilman
Matt Kelly
Steve Garratt
Paul M Matthews
Matteo Milanesi
Amy Herlihy
Micheal Gyngell
Stefan Neubauer
Jimmy D Bell
Rajarshi Banerjee
E Louise Thomas
author_facet Henry R Wilman
Matt Kelly
Steve Garratt
Paul M Matthews
Matteo Milanesi
Amy Herlihy
Micheal Gyngell
Stefan Neubauer
Jimmy D Bell
Rajarshi Banerjee
E Louise Thomas
author_sort Henry R Wilman
collection DOAJ
description Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the risk of progression to steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma have been identified as major public health concerns. We have demonstrated the feasibility and potential value of measuring liver fat content by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a large population in this study of 4,949 participants (aged 45-73 years) in the UK Biobank imaging enhancement. Despite requirements for only a single (≤3min) scan of each subject, liver fat was able to be measured as the MRI proton density fat fraction (PDFF) with an overall success rate of 96.4%. The overall hepatic fat distribution was centred between 1-2%, and was highly skewed towards higher fat content. The mean PDFF was 3.91%, and median 2.11%. Analysis of PDFF in conjunction with other data fields available from the UK Biobank Resource showed associations of increased liver fat with greater age, BMI, weight gain, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. Subjects with BMI less than 25 kg/m2 had a low risk (5%) of high liver fat (PDFF > 5.5%), whereas in the higher BMI population (>30 kg/m2) the prevalence of high liver fat was approximately 1 in 3. These data suggest that population screening to identify people with high PDFF is possible and could be cost effective. MRI based PDFF is an effective method for this. Finally, although cross sectional, this study suggests the utility of the PDFF measurement within UK Biobank, particularly for applications to elucidating risk factors through associations with prospectively acquired data on clinical outcomes of liver diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
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spelling doaj-art-831dc4b2daaf43f7855d60ad4a82ccee2025-08-20T02:03:08ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01122e017292110.1371/journal.pone.0172921Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.Henry R WilmanMatt KellySteve GarrattPaul M MatthewsMatteo MilanesiAmy HerlihyMicheal GyngellStefan NeubauerJimmy D BellRajarshi BanerjeeE Louise ThomasNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the risk of progression to steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma have been identified as major public health concerns. We have demonstrated the feasibility and potential value of measuring liver fat content by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a large population in this study of 4,949 participants (aged 45-73 years) in the UK Biobank imaging enhancement. Despite requirements for only a single (≤3min) scan of each subject, liver fat was able to be measured as the MRI proton density fat fraction (PDFF) with an overall success rate of 96.4%. The overall hepatic fat distribution was centred between 1-2%, and was highly skewed towards higher fat content. The mean PDFF was 3.91%, and median 2.11%. Analysis of PDFF in conjunction with other data fields available from the UK Biobank Resource showed associations of increased liver fat with greater age, BMI, weight gain, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. Subjects with BMI less than 25 kg/m2 had a low risk (5%) of high liver fat (PDFF > 5.5%), whereas in the higher BMI population (>30 kg/m2) the prevalence of high liver fat was approximately 1 in 3. These data suggest that population screening to identify people with high PDFF is possible and could be cost effective. MRI based PDFF is an effective method for this. Finally, although cross sectional, this study suggests the utility of the PDFF measurement within UK Biobank, particularly for applications to elucidating risk factors through associations with prospectively acquired data on clinical outcomes of liver diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172921&type=printable
spellingShingle Henry R Wilman
Matt Kelly
Steve Garratt
Paul M Matthews
Matteo Milanesi
Amy Herlihy
Micheal Gyngell
Stefan Neubauer
Jimmy D Bell
Rajarshi Banerjee
E Louise Thomas
Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.
PLoS ONE
title Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.
title_full Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.
title_fullStr Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.
title_full_unstemmed Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.
title_short Characterisation of liver fat in the UK Biobank cohort.
title_sort characterisation of liver fat in the uk biobank cohort
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172921&type=printable
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