UCLA

Background

Frailty is associated with obesity-related comorbidities, but the relationship with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in people with HIV has been incompletely described. Our objective was to assess the associations between NAFLD and frailty.

Methods

Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of men in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. NAFLD was defined as a liver/spleen ratio <1.0 on abdominal computed tomography scans; frailty was defined by the frailty phenotype as having 3 of the following: weakness, slowness, weight loss, exhaustion, and low physical activity.

Results

Men without (n = 200) and with HIV (n = 292) were included. NAFLD prevalence was 21% vs 16% and frailty 12% vs 17%, respectively. Among men with NAFLD, frailty was more prevalent in men without HIV (21% vs 11%). In multivariate analysis, NAFLD was significantly associated with frailty after controlling for significant variables. Men without HIV and NAFLD had 2.6 times higher probability [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2- to 5.7] of frailty relative to men with neither HIV nor NAFLD. This association was not seen in men with HIV. The probability of frailty was higher among men without HIV with NAFLD (27% vs 10% in men without NAFLD) but lower among men with HIV with NAFLD (14% vs 19% in men without NAFLD). No significant relationships were found in longitudinal analyses.

Conclusions

NAFLD was independently associated with frailty among men without HIV but not men with HIV, despite increased prevalence of frailty among men with HIV. The mechanisms of the muscle-liver-adipose tissue axis underlying NAFLD might differ by HIV serostatus.