Suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is not associated with vitamin D status in adolescents after adjustment for obesity

This study investigated a potential independent association between hypovitaminosis d and suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) in a nationally representative sample of the us adolescents. data from 1630 subjects 12-19 years of age were examined using the national health and nutrition examination survey,2001-2004. the vitamin d status of subjects was categorized into quartiles of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d. subjects with serum alt>30 u/l were classified as having suspected nafld. data regarding age,sex,race,bmi,and poverty level were also analyzed in bivariate and multivariate analyses using sas and sudaan software. suspected nafld was identified in 12.1% of adolescents in the lowest quartile compared to 6.9% of adolescents in the second quartile,8.0% in the third quartile,and 13.17% in the highest quartile of serum 25(oh)d concentrations (p=.05). in analyses utilizing vitamin d as a continuous variable,no independent association was found between vitamin d levels and rates of elevated alt levels. in multivariate analyses,higher risks for suspected nafld were observed in males and overweight adolescents; however,vitamin d status was not found to be independently associated with suspected nafld after adjusting for obesity. © 2010 karin katz et al.