Serum Lipid Abnormalities and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Adult Males

Background

Dyslipidemia is a risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of our study was to determine the associations of serum lipid indexes with NAFLD in adult males.

Materials and Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 830 patients with NAFLD and 2,357 healthy individuals were assessed. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were compared between patients with NAFLD and controls. The associations of dyslipidemia indexes with NAFLD occurrence were assessed by univariate analysis, and multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent dyslipidemia factors predictive of NAFLD.

Results

Of the 3,187 study subjects, NAFLD occurred in 830 (26.04%), there were 504 (60.72%) patients with mild disease and 326 (39.28%) patients with moderate-to-severe disease. Although the frequency of normal TC, TG, LDL-C and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in patients with NAFLD was similar to the controls, the frequencies of patients with NAFLD with marginally high and high TC, TG and LDL-C levels were significantly different when compared with controls. Interestingly, the association of the number of abnormal serum lipid indexes and NAFLD was highly significant with 2 abnormalities (odds ratio = 1.977; 95% CI: 1.436-2.722; P < 0.001) and ≥3 abnormalities (odds ratio = 3.505; 95% CI: 2.466-4.982; P < 0.001).

Conclusions

A significant positive association was found between dyslipidemia characteristics and NAFLD in adult males.