From the liver to the heart: Cardiac dysfunction in obese children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

In the last decades the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has increased as a consequence of the childhood obesity world epidemic. The liver damage occurring in NAFLD ranges from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis. Recent findings reported that fatty liver disease is related to early atherosclerosis and cardiac dysfunction even in the pediatric population. Moreover, some authors have shown an association between liver steatosis and cardiac abnormalities, including rise in left ventricular mass, systolic and diastolic dysfunction and epicardial adipose tissue thickness. In this editorial, we provide a brief overview of the current knowledge concerning the association between NAFLD and cardiac dysfunction.