Value of betatrophin in predicting nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Objective To investigate the value of betatrophin in predicting nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) . Methods A total of160 patients with NAFLD who were diagnosed and treated in our hospital from January 2017 to January 2018 were enrolled in this study and were divided into low fat content (LFC) group with 65 patients and high fat content (HFC) group with 95 patients. A total of 72 healthy individuals were enrolled as control group. Related indices were measured, including fasting plasma glucose (FPG) , HbA1 c, total cholesterol (TC) , triglyceride (TG) , high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) , low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) , alanine aminotransferase (ALT) , aspartate aminotransferase (AST) , creatinine (Cr) , blood urea nitrogen (BUN) , uric acid (UA) , and betatrophin.Comparison between multiple groups was made by one-way analysis of variance, and comparison between any two groups was made using the LSD-t test, comparison of categorical data between multiple groups was made by chi-square test. Pearson analysis was performed to investigate the correlation of serum betatrophin with other biochemical parameters, and multivariate linear stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors for fat content. Results The LFC group and the HFC group had a significantly higher serum level of betatrophin than the control group (269. 3 ± 15. 4 pg/ml and 290. 2 ± 30. 5 pg/ml vs 250. 2 ± 20. 1 pg/ml, F = 16. 134, P <0. 001) , and the HFC group had a higher level than the LFC group (P < 0. 05) . The serum level of betatrophin was correlated with fat content and TC (r = 0. 301 and 0. 128, P = 0. 012 and 0. 027) . The multiple linear stepwise regression analysis showed that fat content was positively correlated with betatrophin (t = 3. 361, P = 0. 005) , TG (t = 2. 610, P = 0. 010) , and AST (t = 2. 015, P = 0. 012) and was negatively correlated with HDL-C (t =-1. 847, P = 0. 048) . Conclusion Liver fat content increases with the increase in the serum level of betatrophin. Serum betatrophin may be used as a predictive factor for NAFLD, which needs further research in the future.