• Young KimSunSDepartment of Internal Medicine, Inha University Hospital, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea., Subin Mun, Jung Hwan Yu, Young-Joo Jin, Ju SuhYoungYDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea., Sang-Heon Cho, and Jin-Woo Lee.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Inha University Hospital, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Sep 16; 101 (37): e30527.

AbstractWhile patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) continue to increase worldwide, few hematological biomarkers are helpful. This study examined the potential of small dense low density lipoprotein (sdLDL) as a noninvasive biomarker for NAFLD and investigated the relevance of liver fibrosis. One hundred seventy two patients were enrolled: 121 NAFLD patients and 51 healthy controls. The lipoprotein profiles of NAFLD patients and controls were analyzed, and transient elastography (Fibroscan®) was performed to evaluate the degree of NAFLD. The liver biopsy results in some NAFLD patients were also analyzed. Age-gender matching was performed among the 172 patients, and a comparison with 46 NAFLD patients with the control group confirmed that the sdLDL (P < .001) is significantly higher in the NAFLD group. A liver fibrosis test performed on 121 NAFLD patients confirmed a positive correlation between the degree of hepatic fibrosis and the sdLDL/LDL ratio (R = 0.215, P = .017). The area under the curve of the sdLDL for the diagnosis of NAFLD was 0.734 (95% CI, 0.631-0.838), and the area under the curve of the sdLDL/LDL ratio was 0.730 (95% CI, 0.621-0.829). The sdLDL and NAFLD activity scores of the 11 NAFLD patients who underwent liver biopsy showed a positive correlation, but it was not statistically significant. The sdLDL was higher in NAFLD patients than in controls and showed a tendency to increase gradually with increasing degree of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis. In particular, the sdLDL/LDL ratio showed a significant correlation with the degree of hepatic fibrosis, and the sdLDL measurement could be useful in NAFLD patients.Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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