Validation of genetic variants associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in an ethnic Chinese population

Table 1 Patients’ demographics and clinical characteristics

	NAFLD patient, n = 72	Control, n = 72	Total, n = 144	P value
Clinical characteristics
Age	57 (46-68)	61 (48-74)	59 (46-71)	0.0372
Male, %	43 (59.7%)	43 (59.7%)	86 (59.7%)	1.01
BMI, kg/m2	27 (23-31)	23 (19-28)	25 (21-30)	< 0.0012
Waist-hip ratio	0.94 (0.9-1.0)	0.95 (0.8-1.1)	0.9 (0.8-1.0)	0.5872
Smoker, %	5 (6.9%)	12 (16.7%)	17 (11.8%)	0.0711
DM, %	29 (40.3%)	15 (20.8%)	44 (30.6%)	0.0111
Hypertension, %	25 (34.7)	22 (30.6%)	47 (32.6%)	0.5941
On anti-diabetic treatment	26 (36.1)	14 (19.4)	40 (27.8)	0.0261
On lipid-lowering treatment	26 (36.1)	17 (23.6)	43 (29.9)	0.1011
Laboratory measures
Serum lipid levels and fasting glucose
Total cholesterol, mmol/L	4.4 (2.9-5.8)	3.4 (1.2-5.7)	3.9 (1.9-5.8)	0.00322
LDL-C, mmol/L	2.5 (1.5-3.5)	2.1 (0.7-3.5)	2.3 (1.1-3.6)	0.04922
HDL-C, mmol/L	1.3 (0.6-1.9)	1.0 (0.3-1.7)	1.6 (0.5-1.8)	0.02922
TG, mmol/L	1.7 (0.8-2.7)	1.0 (0.1-1.98)	1.4 (0.4-2.4)	< 0.00122
FPG, mmol/L	6.1 (5.6-6.6)	5.9 (5.5-6.3)	6.0 (5.7-6.3)	0.45922
Liver function test
Albumin, g/L	40.9 (32.1-49.7)	41.0 (34.6-47.3)	40.9 (33.3-48.6)	0.97422
Bilirubin, mmol/L, Median	13.1 (4.5-21.7), Median 11.0	14.7 (-15.6-44.97), Median 9.0	13.9 (-8.3-36.1), Median 10.0	0.66722
AST, U/L	37.1 (16.7-57.5)	26.2 (7.4-44.9)	31.7 (11.4-51.98)	0.00122
ALT, U/L	46.2 (15.5-76.8)	22.2 (8.2-36.1)	34.3 (7.6-60.9)	< 0.00122
ALP, U/L	87.6 (36.2-138.9)	77.4 (39.95-114.8)	82.5 (37.4-127.6)	0.17922
INR	0.9 (0.5-1.2)	0.8 (0.2-1.3)	0.8 (0.3-1.3)	0.37322
Platelet as 109/L	223 (130-315)	256 (162-350)	240 (146-334)	0.04022

Categorical variables were in number (%) and continuous variables in range (95% confidence interval).

¹Chi-squared test.

²Student’s t-test. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; BMI: Body mass index; DM: Diabetes mellitus; HDL-C: High-density lipoprotein cholesterol; FPG: Fasting plasma glucose; INR: International normalized ratio; LDL-C: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; TGs: Triglycerides.

Table 2 Multivariable analysis of the environmental factors and single nucleotide polymorphisms

	Odds ratio	95%CI		P value
		Lower	Upper
TG, mmol/L	2.338	1.3	4.1	0.003
BMI, kg/m2	1.243	1.1	1.4	0.003
PNPLA3 GG vs CC	4.146	1.3	12.9	0.014

BMI: Body mass index; CI: Confidence interval; TGs: Triglycerides.