Evaluation of Novel Markers in Predicting Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver: Uric Acid–High-Density Lipoprotein Ratio

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the existence of nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) with uric acid–high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio (UHR) and vitamin B12 levels and the effectiveness of these markers in predicting the severity of NAFL.

Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted in a university hospital between November 2021 and April 2022. The patients who had hepatobiliary ultrasonography examinations with the suspicion of fatty liver were enrolled. Patients who had fatty liver were divided into three groups after an ultrasonographic examination.
Results: Of the 575 patients enrolled in the study, NAFL was found in 314 (54.6%) participants. Fatty liver was evalu-ated as grade 1 in 158 (27.5%), grade 2 in 123 (21.4%), and grade 3 in 33 (5.7%). UHR was higher in patients who had NAFL than in those who did not have NAFL. In addition, UHR levels increased as the severity of NAFL increased. Receiv-er operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that, among parameters inspected in the study, the most ef-fective parameter to predict NAFL was UHR. A UHR value of 9.47 revealed a sensitivity of 78% and a specificity of 53%.

Discussion and Conclusion: According to the results of this study, UHR can be used to predict the existence and se-verity of NAFL. There was no association between vitamin B12 levels and NAFL. UHR may be a noninvasive, available, and very simple inflammatory marker that may predict the existence of NAFL in suspected individuals.

Keywords: High-density lipoprotein; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Uric acid