A total of 93 patients who had a suspicion of CAD and were scheduled for cardiac catheterization were included in the study, "High Prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)," which found that among the 60 patients with available abdominal imaging, the prevalence of NAFLD was 30 percent."These patients who were found to have NAFLD were older, more commonly male, had higher weight and were also more commonly diabetic, hypertensive and had hyperlipidemia," explained researcher Noreen Hossain, M.D., of the Center for Liver Diseases, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Va. "The prevalence of angiographically-proven coronary disease in the NAFLD cohort was 61 percent compared to 26 percent in the non-NAFLD controls," said Dr. Hossain. "As a result, NAFLD is strongly associated with angiographically-proven CAD," explained Dr. Hossain. "We found that diabetes is independently associated with both NAFLD and CAD."

Is Inflammatory Bowel Disease A Risk Factor for Coronary Artery Disease?

The link between chronic bowel inflammation and coronary artery disease (CAD) was explored in another study, "Is Inflammatory Bowel Disease a Risk Factor for Coronary Artery Disease," which focused on 79 patients who had confirmed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and CAD diagnosis. Forty-six patients had ulcerative colitis and 52 percent were males in the study group, compared to 40 percent males in the control group. Using the Framingham risk score FRS), which is calculated based on age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, tobacco use, total cholesterol and HDL values, the study found that FRS was lower in patients with IBD and CAD compared with the control group of patients with just CAD, implying that IBD is an independent risk factor for CAD.

"Recurrent flares of intestinal mucosal inflammation leads to the presence of excess pro-inflammatory cytokines and serum soluble adhesion molecules in IBD that could promote atherosclerosis-related inflammation, alter lipid metabolism, and contribute to plaque instability and rupture," said researcher Tarun Rustagi, M.D., of the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Connecticut. "Our results are in accordance with those published by smaller studies." Dr. Rustig also explained that further prospective cohort studies are needed to accurately investigate the incidence of CAD in patients with IBD.

In other findings, Crohn's disease patients who are overweight or obese (BMI>25) are more likely to have more severe disease characterized by a higher likelihood of Vitamin D deficiency, stricturing ileocolonic disease, and are more likely to require surgery compared to normal weight patients (BMI < 24.9) with Crohn's disease, according to the study, "The Clinical Phenotype of Obese and Overweight Crohn's Disease Patients."

Source: American College of Gastroenterology