Minerva Gastroenterology 2021 Apr 08

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-5985.21.02818-X

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio for diagnosing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Roberto CATANZARO ¹ ✉, Federica SELVAGGIO ¹, Morena SCIUTO ¹, Luca ZANOLI ², Azam YAZDANI ³, Fang HE ⁴, Francesco MAROTTA ⁵

¹ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Gastroenterology Section, Gaspare Rodolico Policlinico Hospital, University of Catania, Catania, Italy; ² Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy; ³ Boston University, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ⁴ Department of Nutrition, Food Safety and Toxicology, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; ⁵ ReGenera R&D International for Aging Intervention, Milano, Italy

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a widespread disease in the western world. It can develop into more serious pathological conditions (i.e. liver cirrhosis). Therefore it is important to diagnose it in order to prevent this evolution. For diagnosis it is possible to use both imaging methods and biomarkers, such as the Triglycerides To High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Ratio (TG/HDL-C). Aim of our study is to determine whether TG/HDL-C ratio is significantly associated with NAFLD and Metabolic Syndrome (MetS).
METHODS: We recruited 231 patients, 131 with and 100 without NAFLD. The Body Mass Index had been calculated and different laboratory parameters had been obtained. TG/HDL-C ratio was calculated for each.
RESULTS: In our sample HDL-C was not significantly reduced in NAFLD group (p = 0.49), but higher TG and TG/HDL-C ratio were significantly associated with NAFLD: in both p < 0.001. According to receiver operating characteristic curve, the best cut-off of TG/HDL-C in NAFLD population was 1.64 [area under the curve (AUC) 0.675 (95% CI 0.604-0.746), p < 0.001]. TG/HDL-C higher ratio was significantly associated with MetS (p < 0.001). The best cut-off of TG/HDL-C in patients with MetS was 2.48 [AUC 0.871 (95% CI 0.808-0.935), p < 0.001].
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that higher TG/HDL-C ratio is associated with NAFLD and MetS. Though nowadays TG/HDL-C ratio is not a criteria for NAFLD diagnosis, we believe that in the future it could be used as a reliable non-invasive marker in routine diagnostics of NAFLD.

KEY WORDS: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Metabolic syndrome; Biomarkers; Fatty liver