Prevalence and characteristics of liver steatosis and fibrosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients: a cross-sectional study in populations of eastern China.

Objectives: To describe the prevalence, clinical characteristics and risk factors of liver steatosis and fibrosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in eastern China.

Design: A cross-sectional, multicentre study based on an ongoing cohort study.

Setting: 16 clinics in eastern China, including primary clinics to tertiary hospitals.

Participants: 1816 patients with T2DM diagnosis who met the inclusion criteria were recruited into the study.

Intervention: Participants underwent elastography examination.

Main Outcome Measures: Descriptive analysis was performed to calculate the prevalence and characteristics of liver steatosis and fibrosis. The correlated factors were analysed using single- and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results: The prevalence of liver steatosis in T2DM patients is 69.7%, with 46% moderate to severe steatosis. 34.6% and 6.7% of the patients were detected with liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Steatosis patients were younger, had higher body mass index (BMI), higher levels of insulin resistance and more severe lipid metabolism disorders. Similar trends of differences were observed in patients with fibrosis. Female gender (OR=0.574, 95% CI 0.381 to 0.865), BMI (OR=1.491, 95% CI 1.375 to 1.616), disease duration, inflammation and serum lipid profile markers were risk factors of steatosis, while BMI (OR=1.204, 95% CI 1.137 to 1.275) and female gender (OR=0.672, 95% CI 0.470 to 0.961) were still the most significant predictors of liver fibrosis.

Conclusions: The prevalence of liver steatosis and fibrosis were high in patients with T2DM. Liver steatosis and fibrosis in these patients appeared to be more associated with lipid metabolism disorders and insulin resistance rather than glucose levels.

Trial Registration Number: Clinical trial: NCT05597709.