Insulin pump therapy in type 1 diabetes is associated with lower indices of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver in non-obese women but not men.

• Fatty liver is a raising concern in type 1 diabetes. • Type of insulin administration could play a pathophysiological role in fatty liver. • Insulin pump therapy is associated with lower fatty liver indices in women. Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a raising concern in type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients. We evaluated whether multiple daily injections (MDI) or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) may differentially affect NAFLD. NAFLD was assessed by Fatty Liver Index (FLI) and Hepatic Steatosis Index (HSI) in 659 T1D patients treated by MDI (n = 414, 65% men) or CSII (n = 245, 50% men) without alcohol abuse or other liver diseases. Clinical and metabolic differences between MDI and CSII participants were also evaluated according to sex. Compared with the MDI cohort, CSII users had a significantly lower FLI (20.2 ± 21.2 vs. 24.8 ± 24.3; p = 0.003), HSI (36.2 ± 4.4 vs. 37.4 ± 4.4; p = 0.003), waist circumference (84.6 ± 11.8 vs. 86.9 ± 13.7 cm; p = 0.026), plasma triglyceride (76.0 ± 45.8 vs. 84.7 ± 58.3 mg/dl; p = 0.035), and daily insulin dose (0.53 ± 0.22 vs. 0.64 ± 0.25 IU/kg body weight; p < 0.001). In CSII users, lower FLI and HSI were observed in women (p = 0.009 and p = 0.033, respectively) but not in men (p = 0.676 and p = 0.131, respectively). Women on CSII also had lower daily insulin doses, plasma triglyceride, and visceral adiposity index than women on MDI. CSII is associated with lower NAFLD indices in women with T1D. This may relate to the lower peripheral insulin in the context of a permissive hormonal milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]