low vitamin d level was associated with non-alcoholic fatty liverdisease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) are major public health concerns. besides the known risk factors, other risk factors, such as vitamin d deficiency, have been suggested for nafld. objectives: this cross-sectional research aimed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin d levels and nafld in a group of patients with t2dm. methods: we investigated various clinical and biochemical parameters, including serum vitamin d level, liver function tests, and liver sonography in 1,110 adult patients with t2dm. the mean difference of numerical variables in nafld and non-nafld groups was analyzed with an independent sample t-test. chi-square test was used to evaluate the association between two categorical variables. results: out of 1,110 patients with t2dm, 837 (75.4%) had nafld. the mean vitamin d level in diabetic patients with nafld was significantly lower than non-nafld group (19.71 ng/ml vs. 27.68 ng/ml, respectively; p < 0.001). furthermore, 410 (49%) patients with nafld were found with vitamin d deficiency, while this value was 85 (31.1%) in non-nafld group. according to the results of univariate logistic regression analysis, vitamin d deficiency (or = 3.87) and insufficient vitamin d (or = 2.83) were the significant variables for nafld. conclusions: there was a significant association between vitamin d deficiency and nafld in patients with t2dm.