Lipids & metabolic liver disease
Association between metabolic signatures of predicted visceral adipose tissue (VAT) mass and risk of MASLD and other chronic liver diseases
Authors' conclusion
VAT and its metabolic signature are strongly associated with MASLD risk, partly explaining its pathogenesis through systemic metabolic alterations.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants without baseline liver disease
- Participants
- 269,018 participants
- Exposure
- Per SD increase in predicted VAT mass and VAT-related metabolic signature
- Outcome
- Incident MASLD, cirrhosis and hepatoma (ICD-coded hospital records)
- Follow-up
- Median 14.3 years
Methodological detailsUK Biobank, elastic net regression, mediation analysis, Cox models
- UK Biobank
- Elastic net regression
- Mediation analysis
- Cox models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Liver disease risk per SD increase in VAT
Incident cases: MASLD / cirrhosis / hepatoma
2658 / 671 / 444
MASLD, HR per SD VAT
1.70 (1.62-1.79) (95% CI)
Cirrhosis, HR per SD VAT
1.27 (1.15-1.40) (95% CI)
Hepatoma, HR per SD VAT
1.15 (1.02-1.30) (95% CI)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
VAT-related metabolic signature (156 metabolites, mainly lipoprotein subclasses and lipids) and MASLD
- MASLD, HR (95% CI), independent association
- 1.89 (1.72-2.08)
- Proportion of VAT-MASLD association mediated
- 40.0%
- No significant mediation for cirrhosis or hepatoma
Original publication
Association between metabolic signatures of predicted VAT mass and risk of MASLD and other chronic liver diseases. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 1 April 2026. doi:10.
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