Metabolic profile of liver transplant recipients and its association with abdominal fat distribution
Description
Adults who underwent de novo elective cadaveric-donor Ltx were eligible. Metabolic syndrome (MS) was diagnosed based on the adapted Interna-tional Diabetes Federation, American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute guidelines. Of 100 recruited patients, 54% met the criteria for MS, most of which comprised new-onset cases. Excessive fat ac-cumulation in liver donors was found to be associated with increased metabolic risk in liver recipients. Haemoglobin A1C (OR: 8.962, 95% CI: 2.188–84.545, p = 0.013), ferritin (OR: 1.024, 95% CI: 1.005–1.054, p = 0.038) and de novo hyper-triglycaeridemia (OR 27.957, 95% CI: 2.626–752.121; p = 0.014) were found to be independently associated with post-Ltx MS. After a step-wise multivariate analysis, only anthropometric indices were significantly associated with ab-dominal fat distribution in Ltx recipients. Metabolic complications were common in liver recipients. Both pre- and post-Ltx factors impact MS de-velopment in liver recipients and determine abdominal fat distribution. Appli-cation of recommended metabolic-risk-reducing immunosuppression guidelines was insufficient in mitigating the risk of metabolic complications in the post-Ltx setting.