We aimed to test whether computed tomography (CT)-diagnosed Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a risk factor for cerebrovascular symptoms in patients with suspected atherosclerotic disease. A total of 550 patients (mean age 65.2 ± 8.8 years, 370 males) with carotid plaques who underwent carotid computed tomographic angiography (CTA) and unenhanced abdominal CT were retrospectively analyzed. NAFLD was diagnosed by abdominal CT. Carotid CTA assessed the presence of carotid artery stenosis or plaque. The relationship between NAFLD and cerebrovascular symptoms was analyzed using generalized estimating equations and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The prevalence of NAFLD was significantly higher in symptomatic patients (76.5 vs 9.8%; P < .001). After adjusting for several confounding factors (e.g., hypertension and hyperlipidemia), univariate and multivariate logic regression analysis revealed that NAFLD was still strongly associated with cerebrovascular symptoms (odds ratio, 22.81; 95% CI 13.03–39.93; P < .001). ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve for discriminating symptomatic and asymptomatic plaques using NAFLD measurements was 0.833, with a sensitivity of 76.5% and a specificity of 90.2%. NAFLD is strongly associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular symptoms. It may be an important predictor of symptomatic carotid plaque and cerebrovascular symptoms.

中文翻译：

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CT 诊断的非酒精性脂肪肝是症状性颈动脉斑块和脑血管症状的风险预测因子

我们的目的是测试计算机断层扫描 (CT) 诊断的非酒精性脂肪肝 (NAFLD) 是否是疑似动脉粥样硬化性疾病患者脑血管症状的危险因素。回顾性分析了总共 550 例颈动脉斑块患者（平均年龄 65.2 ± 8.8 岁，370 名男性）接受颈动脉计算机断层血管造影 (CTA) 和腹部平扫 CT 的情况。NAFLD 通过腹部 CT 诊断。颈动脉 CTA 评估颈动脉狭窄或斑块的存在。使用广义估计方程和受试者工作特征（ROC）分析来分析 NAFLD 与脑血管症状之间的关系。有症状患者的 NAFLD 患病率显着较高（76.5% vs 9.8%；P < .001）。调整几个混杂因素（例如高血压和高脂血症）后，单变量和多变量逻辑回归分析显示，NAFLD 仍然与脑血管症状密切相关（比值比，22.81；95% CI 13.03–39.93；P < .001）。ROC 分析显示，使用 NAFLD 测量区分有症状和无症状斑块的曲线下面积为 0.833，敏感性为 76.5%，特异性为 90.2%。NAFLD 与脑血管症状风险增加密切相关。它可能是有症状的颈动脉斑块和脑血管症状的重要预测因子。