Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease Is Associated with the Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study in Xinjiang

In 2020, a group of international experts proposed a new term ‘metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease’ (MAFLD) to replace ‘non-alcoholic fatty liver disease’. This study aimed to describe the epidemic characteristics of MAFLD, incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and relationship between MAFLD and incident CVD. In 2016, 12,794 Uyghur adults from Kashgar, Xinjiang, were grouped according to the presence or absence of MAFLD. The primary outcome was the occurrence of CVD events. Fatty liver was diagnosed using ultrasound. The prevalence of MAFLD was 16.55%. After excluding patients with previous CVD, 11,444 participants were followed up for a median period of 4.7 years. During the follow-up period, the overall CVD incidence was 10.40% (1190/11,444). The incidence of CVD in the patients with MAFLD was significantly higher than that in the non-MAFLD patients (18.38% vs. 9.02%, p < 0.001; multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.20−1.56). The prevalence of MAFLD was relatively low, whereas the incidence of CVD was relatively high among the Uyghur adults in rural Xinjiang. Individuals with MAFLD have a higher risk of developing CVD independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and dyslipidaemia.