Fibrosis-4 index is closely associated with future development of hypertension in the Japanese general population

Abstract

The fibrosis-4 index, a noninvasive method for evaluating liver fibrosis, is closely associated with cardiovascular events. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the fibrosis-4 index is associated with new-onset hypertension in the general population. A total of 15,502 individuals (51.0 ± 13.2 years) who participated in our health checkup program were screened. Participants with hypertension were excluded, and the remaining 8719 normotensive participants (48.4 ± 12.6 years) were followed up (median 1739 days) with the endpoint of the new onset of hypertension. During follow-up, 1750 participants (39.0 per 1000 person-years) developed hypertension. In Kaplan–Meier analysis, where participants were divided into three groups according to the fibrosis-4 index at baseline (low, <1.30; intermediate, 1.30–2.67; high, ≥2.67), the risk of hypertension increased with increasing fibrosis-4 index (low, 33.8; intermediate, 55.2; high, 69.4 per 1000 person-years). Multivariate Cox hazard regression analysis revealed that the log-transformed fibrosis-4 index was independently associated with the development of new hypertension (hazard ratio 4.279, 95% confidence interval 3.318–5.518). These results suggest that the fibrosis-4 index is a useful tool to evaluate a risk of developing hypertension in the general population. Hypertension and liver fibrosis may share a common basis.