The association of liver fat content and serum alanine aminotransferase with bone mineral density in middle-aged and elderly Chinese men and postmenopausal women

Background Recent studies have linked non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to a reduced bone mineral density (BMD). We aimed to detect the quantitative association of liver fat content (LFC) and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) with BMD in a middle-aged and elderly Chinese population. Methods The lumbar spine, hip and whole body BMDs were measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (Lunar iDXA, GE Healthcare) in 1659 Chinese (755 men and 1028 postmenopausal women) from Shanghai Changfeng community. Liver fat content was quantified via an ultrasound quantitative method. Multivariate linear regression analyses were carried out to determine the independent association of LFC and serum ALT with BMD and bone metabolic biomarkers. We also attempted to investigate the synergistic association between LFC and ALT as risk factors for bone mineral loss in Chinese. Results Subjects with higher LFC had significantly lower BMD at all skeletal sites. Univariate correlation analysis showed that both LFC and ALT were inversely associated with BMD at the spine (r = −0.116, P < 0.001 and r = −0.102, P = 0.005), hip (r = −0.095, P = 0.014 and r = −0.075, P = 0.041) and whole body sites (r = −0.134, P < 0.001 and r = −0.164, P < 0.001) in men. After confounders were controlled for, LFC and ALT remained associated with BMD and bone formation biomarkers in men, but not postmenopausal women. When both NAFLD and elevation of ALT were present, there was a significant synergistic worsening of the BMDs at all bone sites. Conclusions Liver fat content and serum ALT were inversely correlated with BMD in middle-aged and elderly men. The underlying mechanism might relate to a reduction in osteoblast activity. Elevation of the hepatotoxic biomarker ALT may indicate high risk for osteoporosis in patients with NAFLD.