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Metabolites
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The Association Between Metabolic Dysfunction-Related Fatty Liver Disease and Cardiovascular...
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The Association Between Metabolic Dysfunction-Related Fatty Liver Disease and Cardiovascular Diseases

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Endocrinology and Clinical Metabolic Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2026 | Viewed by 763

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Philipp Kasper

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Guest Editor
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
Interests: hepatology; MASLD; MASH; liver cirrhosis; hypertension
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide, affecting over 30% of the world's population and increasing rapidly with obesity and diabetes.

Cardiometabolic diseases are an essential component of the diagnosis of MASLD, and at the same time, adverse cardiovascular events represent the most common cause of death in patients with MASLD. There is growing evidence that uncontrolled and inadequately managed cardiometabolic comorbidities such as diabetes or hypertension accelerate disease progression in MASLD patients and increase the risk of cardiovascular events. It is, therefore, essential to detect cardiometabolic comorbidities in patients with MALSD at an early stage and manage them adequately to reduce the cardiovascular risk to the patients affected.

This requires comprehensive screening and management programs, as well as detailed knowledge of the underlying pathomechanisms, to establish effective therapeutic measures.

This Special Issue will highlight the link between MASLD and cardiovascular disease address the importance of the early implementation of preventive strategies to hamper disease progression and establish the most effective treatment.

We invite researchers to submit all types of papers, including original, narrative, and systematic reviews, to this Special Issue to widen our knowledge of this topic

Dr. Philipp Kasper
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • MASLD
  • MASH
  • diabetes
  • arterial hypertension
  • dyslipidemia
  • fibrosis
  • cardiovascular risk

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 822 KB  
Article
Waist-to-Height Ratio as a Simple Anthropometric Marker for Identifying Individuals at High Risk of MASLD: A Large Population-Based Analysis Using the Fatty Liver Index
by Ángel Arturo López-González, Pedro Juan Tárraga López, Mónica Silu Piña Dabreu, Lluis Rodas Cañellas, Carla Busquets-Cortés and José Ignacio Ramírez-Manent
Metabolites 2026, 16(4), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo16040246 - 4 Apr 2026
Viewed by 468
Abstract
Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide and represents a major component of the global burden of metabolic disorders. Simple anthropometric markers capable of identifying individuals at increased risk of hepatic steatosis are of considerable [...] Read more.
Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide and represents a major component of the global burden of metabolic disorders. Simple anthropometric markers capable of identifying individuals at increased risk of hepatic steatosis are of considerable interest for population-level screening. Methods: In this cross-sectional population-based study, we evaluated the performance of waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) for identifying individuals with a high Fatty Liver Index (FLI ≥ 60), a widely used surrogate marker of hepatic steatosis. The study included 146,318 adult participants with available anthropometric and biochemical data. Discriminatory performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Optimal WtHR thresholds were determined using the Youden index. Associations between WtHR and high FLI were evaluated using age-adjusted logistic regression models. Non-linear relationships were explored using restricted cubic spline models. Additional analyses included a comparison with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, decision curve analysis, and subgroup analyses across age and BMI strata. Results: The prevalence of high FLI in the study population was 18.1%. WtHR demonstrated excellent discriminatory performance, with area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of 0.908 (95% CI 0.906–0.910) in men and 0.972 (95% CI 0.971–0.974) in women. Optimal WtHR thresholds for identifying individuals with high FLI were 0.52 in men and 0.53 in women. Each 0.01 increase in WtHR was strongly associated with higher odds of high FLI (OR 1.56 in men and 1.69 in women). Restricted cubic spline analysis demonstrated a non-linear relationship, with a marked increase in predicted probability of high FLI above WtHR values of approximately 0.50–0.52. WtHR showed discriminatory performance comparable to BMI and waist circumference and maintained strong associations with high FLI across age groups and BMI categories. Conclusions: Waist-to-height ratio is a simple anthropometric marker strongly associated with a high Fatty Liver Index in a large population-based cohort. Given its simplicity, low cost, and ease of calculation, WtHR may represent a practical screening indicator for identifying individuals at increased risk of MASLD-related phenotypes in both clinical practice and population health strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Association Between Metabolic Dysfunction-Related Fatty Liver Disease and Cardiovascular Diseases)
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