The Study Of Association Between Hematocrit Levels And Risk Of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background and aim:Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a pathological condition shared similar characteristics with alcohol-induced liver lesion, while in the absence of alcohol abuse. Its pathological mechanism is very complex, and recently, researchers discovered that the association between NAFLD and cardiovascular disease has been recognized. Meanwhile, there is abundant evidence for a critical role of blood viscosity and other rheological factors in incident cardiovascular events. It is tempting to speculate that the blood viscosity and its serious determinants might be associated with the progress of NAFLD. However, there is still not any study to explore the relationship of blood viscosity or its major determinants with NAFLD. For these reasons, we tested the hypothesis that hematocrit levels, one major determinant of blood viscosity, might be associated with NAFLD. And it aimed to provide a new guidance for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.Methods:There were1883Chinese Han people involved in this statistical analysis. The physical examinations contained serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, fasting plasma glucose, plasma malondialdehyde, plasma glutathione, hematocrit levels, alanine aminotransferase levels, aspartate aminotransferase levels, and the questionnaire was administered to know, such as age, sex, lifestyle habits and so on. These data were done using SPSS, adjusting for the potential confounding effects.Results:(1) Compared with healthy subjects, there were statistically significant high levels of Body Mass Index, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, plasma malondialdehyde, plasma glutathione, serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase levels, aspartate aminotransferase levels and hematocrit levels in subjects with NAFLD.(2) Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that both male’s and female’s NAFLD risks were increased obviously along with the enhancement of hematocrit levels. Subjects with the highest quartile of hematocrit levels had a132%and323%increased risk of developing NAFLD as compared with the lowest quartile, respectively in male and female.(3) Unhealthy lifestyle would influence both of hematocrit levels and NAFLD, and the overall trends were similar, by analyzing the influence of the life risk factors.(4) The ROC analysis showed that the under areas of the ROC curves of aspartate aminotransferase levels, alanine aminotransferase levels, hematocrit levels for detecting NAFLD were all above0.5. The areas of alanine aminotransferase levels, aspartate aminotransferase levels and hematocrit levels were0.699,0.603,0.593in male, and0.761,0.671,0.635in female. It could be seen that the areas were really the same between aspartate aminotransferase levels and hematocrit levels. The similar prediction meant that hematocrit levels may have certain value to diagnose NAFLD.Conclusions:The prevalence of NAFLD is positively associated with hematocrit levels, both of men’s and women’s. Hematocrit levels may have certain value to diagnose NAFLD. Though the cause-effect relationship between NAFLD and hematocrit levels still need further investigation to clarify, maybe carbonyl stress plays an important role.