Associations between metabolic score for visceral fat and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in US adults: A cross-sectional study based on NHANES 2017–2020

Nowadays, obesity is an independent risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), metabolic score for visceral fat (METS-VF) can assess obesity more accurately than other obesity index. However, the research assessing the relationships between METS-VF and NAFLD is limited. We utilized data from 3025 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017 to March 2020 for this cross-sectional study. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between METS-VF and NAFLD in US adults. Weighted multivariable-adjusted logistic regression was used to investigate the association between METS-VF and NAFLD. We used generalized additive model and threshold effect model in order to allow for potential nonlinear associations. Last, the subgroup analysis can be useful for identifying susceptible subgroups of populations. This population-based study included a total of 3025 adults. In our investigation, with an increase in METS-VF quartile, the prevalence of NAFLD increased gradually (P < .001). After adjusting for potential confounders, the odds ratios for NAFLD patients in the fourth METS-VF quartile were 6.28 (95% confidence interval: 2.94-13.38) (P < .05) in comparison with those in the first quartile. Using the generalized additive models and smooth curve fitting, we observed an S-shaped association between METS-VF and NAFLD, suggesting a critical inflection point at 5.17. On the right side of the inflection point, METS-VF was positively associated with the prevalence of NAFLD. In subgroup analyses, no significant interaction was observed. Further analysis showed that almost all subgroups were positively correlated with the prevalence of NAFLD. Our results show that the METS-VF was nonlinearly and positively associated with the prevalence of NAFLD. We observed that with the level of METS-VF decreases the probability of the odds of NAFLD decreases. METS-VF may be a potential early predictor of NAFLD.