Table 3.

Linear regression analysis investigating factors associated with cardiovascular risk as assessed by SCORE2 in the overall cohort (A, i.e., NAFLD-approach), and in subgroups with metabolic dysfunction according to the MASLD criteria (B), MAFLD criteria (C), or metabolic syndrome criteria (D).

Dependent variable: SCORE2	Factors associated with cardiovascular risk
A – Overall cohort	Adjusted B	95% CI	P-value
Age, per year	0.442	0.429–0.455	< 0.001
Female sex	−2.972	−3.203–(−2.740)	< 0.001
Hepatic steatosis	0.060	−0.193–0.314	0.642
Waist circumference, per cm	0.021	0.010–0.032	< 0.001
HOMA-IR*, per log	1.051	0.772–1.331	< 0.001
Triglycerides*, per log	1.707	1.464–1.950	< 0.001
B – MASLD
Age, per year	0.442	0.429–0.455	< 0.001
Female sex	−3.053	−3.291–(−2.814)	< 0.001
Hepatic steatosis	0.048	−0.211–0.306	0.717
Waist circumference, per cm	0.019	0.008–0.030	< 0.001
HOMA-IR*, per log	1.058	0.775–1.342	< 0.001
Triglycerides*, per log	1.675	1.428–1.922	< 0.001
C – MAFLD
Age, per year	0.454	0.439–0.469	< 0.001
Female sex	−3.171	−3.44–(−2.902)	< 0.001
Hepatic steatosis	0.978	−0.188–0.384	0.503
Waist circumference, per cm	0.019	0.006–0.032	0.005
HOMA-IR*, per log	1.046	0.736–1.356	< 0.001
Triglycerides*, per log	1.813	1.536–2.090	< 0.001
D – Metabolic syndrome
Age, per year	0.470	0.442–0.497	< 0.001
Female sex	−3.677	−4.184–(-3.170)	< 0.001
Hepatic steatosis	−0.244	−0.787–0.299	0.378
Waist circumference, per cm	0.030	0.006–0.054	0.015
HOMA-IR*, per log	1.346	0.834–1.858	< 0.001
Triglycerides*, per log	1.959	1.479–2.439	< 0.001

Age, sex, hepatic steatosis, and the three most relevant variables to explain the presence of hepatic steatosis in this cohort (i.e., waist circumference, HOMA-IR assessing insulin resistance, and triglycerides) were used as covariables.

*These parameters were log-transformed for regression analyses; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment of insulin.

Bold P values indicate those who meet the criterion for statistical significance (<0.05).