Effect of Bariatric Surgery on Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: An Exploratory Metabolomics and Validation Study.
Li M., Wang X., Zeng N., Wu Z., Yu C., Sun D., Liu Y., Cao D., Zhang P., Yang L., Chen Y., Chen Z., Li L., Zhang Z., Lv J., Pang Y.
BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery presents a significant alleviation for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which relies in part on achieving substantial weight loss in post-surgical period. We aimed to understand the effect of bariatric surgery on NAFLD remission via metabolomics and to validate the results in a general population-based cohort. METHODS: In a pilot study, ten patients with NAFLD who underwent bariatric surgery were enrolled. The remission of hepatic steatosis was assessed by MRI-derived proton density fat fraction (PDFF) before and 3-month after surgery. Temporal associations of body mass index (BMI) reduction, alteration in metabolomic biomarkers, and NAFLD remission were quantified by using cross-lagged models, which were then validated in a general population-based cohort (n = 1258). RESULTS: At 3-month after surgery, BMI reduction of 6.9 (SD 1.9) kg/m2 and MRI-PDFF reduction of 9.6% (5.4) (all p-value