Parental Fatty Liver Disease Leads to Offspring's Fatty Liver... "Caution Needed from Adolescence"

If Both Parents Have Fatty Liver
Children's Risk of Developing It Increases 2.6 Times↑

A study has found that if either parent has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), their children are also highly likely to have fatty liver. Since having fatty liver from adolescence can lead to other liver diseases as well as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, special attention is required.

Professor Kwak Geum-yeon and Professor Shin Dong-hyun from the Department of Gastroenterology at Samsung Medical Center, along with Professor Park Ye-wan from the Department of Gastroenterology at Kyung Hee University Hospital, recently announced research results showing a significant difference in the risk of fatty liver in adolescent children depending on whether their parents have fatty liver. This study was published in the recent issue of the international journal in the field of gastroenterology, Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (IF=9.524).

The research team analyzed data from 1,737 households (3,474 parents and 2,335 children) with adolescent children aged 12 to 18 from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 2010 and 2019. They considered the presence of fatty liver in either parent as a risk factor and examined its actual impact on the children’s fatty liver status.

As a result, a clear link of fatty liver transmission from parents to children was observed. Among children whose parents did not have fatty liver (1,336 children), the prevalence of fatty liver was only 3.1%, whereas in children whose parents had fatty liver (999 children), the prevalence jumped to 10.2%. The statistically predicted risk of fatty liver in children also showed similar results: compared to children whose parents both did not have fatty liver, the risk increased by 1.75 times if either parent had fatty liver, and by 2.6 times if both parents had fatty liver.

The results accounted for all metabolic disease-related indicators that could influence fatty liver occurrence, including the child’s body mass index (BMI), abdominal obesity, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL cholesterol), systolic blood pressure, liver enzyme levels (ALT), and fasting blood glucose. Therefore, the presence of fatty liver in parents was identified as a direct cause increasing the risk of fatty liver in children. The research team interpreted this as indicating the importance of genetic factors inherited from parents. Considering that there were no differences in daily total calorie or carbohydrate intake and physical activity levels between children from households with or without parental fatty liver, it is likely that genetic factors had more influence than environmental factors.

Professor Kwak Geum-yeon stated, "This study proves that parents diagnosed with fatty liver should take care not only of their own liver health but also of their children’s liver health." She added, "Since the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology already recommends fatty liver screening for obese children whose parents have fatty liver, there is a need for increased attention to early detection and treatment of fatty liver in adolescents in Korea as well."