Early stages of fatty liver disease do not pose a serious risk, so people frequently ignore it until it has progressed to a more serious stage. But a dysfunctional liver increases one’s risk for cardiovascular disease in addition to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. When a person’s liver isn’t functioning properly, it may be unable to properly metabolize the essential proteins and fats that are needed to maintain heart health. This may result in higher levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol, both of which raise the risk of heart attacks and other heart conditions.
Expert’s Advice
According to Dr. Ravi Kiran, having liver issues increases your risk of having a heart attack. “Liver problems exert a profound influence on cardiovascular health, often culminating in dire consequences like heart attacks. The liver plays a pivotal role in metabolizing fats and producing essential proteins, vital for maintaining a balanced cardiovascular system. When the liver falters due to conditions such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or chronic liver disease, it disrupts lipid metabolism, leading to heightened levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. This lipid imbalance precipitates atherosclerosis, the narrowing of arteries, thus diminishing blood flow to the heart,” says Dr Ravi Kiran S K, Consultant, Hepatology & Liver Transplantation, Narayana Health City Bangalore.
People with fatty livers are more likely to die from a heart attack than those with liver cirrhosis, according to Dr. Rakesh Rai Sapra, Director and Senior Consultant-Cardiology, Marengo Asia Hospitals Faridabad. “The risk factors of fatty liver disease and heart disease are similar. That is why it is felt that people with fatty liver are more likely to die from heart attack than from chronic liver cirrhosis. Also, patients with cirrhosis of liver tend to develop impaired myocardial contractile responsiveness to stress, diastolic dysfunction and electrophysiological disturbances, in the absence of other known cardiac disease. This is labelled as Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy. This condition although clinically missed may be present in up to 50% of patients with cirrhosis. This leads to increased chances of heart failure, abnormal cardiac rhythms and sudden cardiac death in patients with cirrhosis of liver,” says Dr Sapra.
According to Dr Sapra, “Similarly, there is an increased likelihood of development of liver disease in patients of heart failure. This happens both in acute and chronic heart failure conditions. In acute heart failure state due to inadequate blood flow to liver acute liver injury occurs which is called cardiogenic ischemic hepatitis. In chronic heart failure state due to persistent increased venous pressure, congestive liver disease develops which is called cardiac cirrhosis. So, the correlation between liver and heart disease is actually considered a two-way disease process”.
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