The correlation between NAFLD and serum uric acid to serum creatinine ratio

by Jangwon Choi, Hyun Joe, Jung-Eun Oh, Yong-Jin Cho, Hwang-Sik Shin, Nam Hun Heo

With the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) increasing worldwide, many noninvasive techniques have been used to improve its diagnosis. Recently, the serum uric acid/creatinine (sUA/sCr) ratio was identified as an indicator of fatty liver disease. Therefore, we examined the relationship between sUA/sCr levels and ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD in Korean adults.

This study included 16,666 20-year-olds or older who received health checkups at a university hospital’s health promotion center from January to December 2021. Among them, 11,791 non-patients with and without NAFLD were analyzed, excluding those without abdominal ultrasound, those without data on fatty liver, cancer, or chronic kidney disease severity, those with a history of alcohol abuse, and those with serum hs-CRP <5 mg/L. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the sUA/sCr ratio according to the presence or absence of fatty liver disease and severity were calculated after correcting for confounding variables using logistic regression analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) of the sUA/sCr ratio confirmed and compared the sensitivity and specificity of NAFLD and serum uric acid.

sUA/sCr increased with fatty liver severity, and the post-correction OR in the NAFLD group was 1.183 (95% CI: 1.137–1.231) compared to the group without NAFLD. Concerning the fatty liver severity, the post-correction OR in the mild NAFLD group increased to 1.147 (95% CI: 1.099–1.196), and that in the moderate-to-severe NAFLD group increased to 1.275 (95% CI: 1.212–1.341) compared to the group without NAFLD. The sensitivity of sUA/sCr to fatty liver severity was 57.9% for the non-NAFLD group, 56.7% for the mild NAFLD group, and 59.0% for the moderate-to-severe NAFLD group; the specificity of sUA/sCr to fatty liver severity 61.4% for the non-NAFLD group, 57.3% for the mild NAFLD group, and 65.2% for the moderate-to-severe NAFLD group.

NAFLD severity is associated with sUA/sCR.