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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1505050
This article is part of the Research Topic Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) - Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment View all 10 articles

Impact of segmental body composition on metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in Chinese children

Provisionally accepted
Meng-Yuan Hu Meng-Yuan Hu 1Dan-Qin Sun Dan-Qin Sun 2Fan Yang Fan Yang 2Xiaowei Zheng Xiaowei Zheng 2Ning-Xi Wu Ning-Xi Wu 1Haoyang Zhang Haoyang Zhang 1Xiaodie Yao Xiaodie Yao 1Jia-Hui Zhang Jia-Hui Zhang 1Le Zhang Le Zhang 1*
  • 1 Wuxi Children’s Hospital, Wuxi, China
  • 2 Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: This study aimed to assess the relationship between regional body composition and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in Chinese children.Methods: In this study, 1399 children aged 7–14 years were included. Liver steatosis was assessed using the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) measured through Fibroscan. MAFLD is defined as the presence of liver steatosis along with either overweight/obesity, prediabetes/diabetes, or at least two metabolic index abnormalities. Regression analyses were applied to assess the relationship between regional body composition and MAFLD in children. Subgroup analyses were performed based on sex and weight.Results: The participants had a mean age of 9 years, with 52.11% being boys. Among them, 134 (9.57%) were diagnosed with MAFLD, and 17 (1.22%) had severe fatty liver disease. We found an inverse correlation between the muscle percentage in each region and MAFLD, with the extremities demonstrating the most significant negative correlation (OR: 0.732; 95% CI: 0.634–0.844). Conversely, regional fat was positively associated with MAFLD, with the strongest correlation found in the upper limbs (OR: 3.104; 95% CI: 2.023–4.764). Subgroup analyses showed similar results.Conclusion: The decrease in regional muscle percentage, particularly in the limbs, along with the increase in regional fat percentage, especially in the upper limbs, is associated with a higher probability of developing MAFLD in prepubertal children. Additional prospective studies are needed to strengthen and validate these findings.

    Keywords: BIA, MAFLD, Children, Regional body composition, Fibroscan

    Received: 02 Oct 2024; Accepted: 29 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Sun, Yang, Zheng, Wu, Zhang, Yao, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Le Zhang, Wuxi Children’s Hospital, Wuxi, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.