Clinical Research

Relationship between fasting blood glucose and non⁃alcoholic fatty liver disease in different genders

  • Na LIU ,
  • Tingting LIU ,
  • Lihui ZHANG ,
  • Liming. WANG
Expand
  • *.Department of Ultrasound,Beijing Hospital of Chinese and Western Medicine,Beijing 100039,China

Received date: 2024-06-20

  Online published: 2025-02-19

Abstract

Objective To investigate whether there are gender differences in the relationship between fasting blood glucose levels and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 1,584 participants aged ≥ 40 who underwent health screening at Wuhan Union Hospital between January 2020 and November 2021. The cohort included 1,143 men and 441 women. Health screening indicators, including general demographic information and routine biochemical test data, were collected. Based on routine abdominal B-ultrasound scan results, participants were classified into NAFLD and non-NAFLD groups. The generalized additive model based on smooth curve fitting was used to describe the dose-response relationship between fasting blood glucose (FBG) and the risk of NAFLD in different genders. A two-stage logistic model was employed to reveal potential non-linear relationships, and threshold effect analysis was performed to determine the non-linear inflection point. Results FBG levels were significantly higher in the NAFLD group compared to the non-NAFLD group for both men and women. After adjusting for covariates such as age, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, ALT, AST, TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C, a positive linear correlation between FBG and NAFLD was observed in women, indicating that increased FBG was associated with a higher risk of NAFLD (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.02 ~ 1.64). In men, the relationship between FBG and NAFLD was non-linear. When FBG was ≤ 5.61 mmol/L, increased FBG was associated with a higher risk of NAFLD (OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.17 ~ 2.13). However, when FBG exceeded 5.61 mmol/L, the risk of NAFLD plateaued. Conclusion There is a positive association between FBG and NAFLD in women. In men, NAFLD risk increases with FBG levels up to 5.61 mmol/L, beyond which the risk stabilizes, indicating a saturation effect.

Cite this article

Na LIU , Tingting LIU , Lihui ZHANG , Liming. WANG . Relationship between fasting blood glucose and non⁃alcoholic fatty liver disease in different genders[J]. The Journal of Practical Medicine, 2025 , 41(3) : 347 -351 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-5725.2025.03.006

References

1 曾龙驿. 空腹血糖控制对糖尿病治疗的临床意义[J]. 中国糖尿病杂志, 2012, 20(5): 395-396.
2 王晓华, 曾雅琳, 郭萃蓉. 非酒精性脂肪性肝病进展性肝纤维化患者空腹血糖受损和胰岛素抵抗调查[J]. 实用肝脏病杂志,2022, 25(6): 812-815.
3 张雪泠, 钱晓琴. Ⅱ型糖尿病中不同程度非酒精性脂肪肝的比较[J]. 中西医结合心血管病电子杂志,2019, 7(35): 56.
4 LIM S, TASKINEN M R, BORéN J. Crosstalk between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiometabolic syndrome [J]. Obesity Rev, 2019, 20(4): 599-611. doi:10.1111/obr.12820
5 YAN F, NIE G, ZHOU N, et al.. Association of fat-to-muscle ratio with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A single-centre retrospective study [J]. BMJ Open, 2023, 13(10): e072489. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072489
6 ESLAM M, SANYAL A J, GEORGE J. MAFLD: A Consensus-Driven Proposed Nomenclature for Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease [J]. Gastroenterology, 2020, 158(7): 1999-2014.e1991. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2019.11.312
7 NOGUEIRA J P, CUSI K. Role of Insulin Resistance in the Development of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in People With Type 2 Diabetes: From Bench to Patient Care [J]. Diabetes Spect, 2024, 37(1): 20-28. doi:10.2337/dsi23-0013
8 MARE R, SPOREA I, TOMESCU M, et al. Fibrosis Predictive Score in Caucasian Patients with Metabolic Syndrome [J]. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes, 2022,15:1703-1713. doi:10.2147/dmso.s358744
9 LI S, FENG L, DING J, et al. Triglyceride glucose-waist circumference: the optimum index to screen nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in non-obese adults [J]. BMC gastroenterology, 2023, 23(1): 376. doi:10.1186/s12876-023-03007-8
10 JIN X, XU J, WENG X. Correlation between ratio of fasting blood glucose to high density lipoprotein cholesterol in serum and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in American adults: A population based analysis [J]. Front Med (Lausanne), 2024,11:1428593. doi:10.3389/fmed.2024.1428593
11 YOUNOSSI Z M, KOENIG A B, ABDELATIF D, et al. Global epidemiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-Meta-analytic assessment of prevalence, incidence, and outcomes [J]. Hepatology (Baltimore, Md), 2016, 64(1): 73-84. doi:10.1002/hep.28431
12 SHI Y, MA J, LI S, et al. Sex difference in human diseases: mechanistic insights and clinical implications [J]. Signal Transduct Target Ther, 2024,9(1):238. doi:10.1038/s41392-024-01929-7
13 SUWA?A S, JUNIK R. Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease and the role of hormones in its aetiopathogenesis [J]. Endokrynol Pol, 2024,75(3):237-252.
14 PANICKER S, STEPHENS J W. 1565-P: Gender Differences in Clinical Predictors of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Type 2 Diabetes [J]. Diabetes, 2019, 68(): 10.2337/db19-1565-P. doi:10.2337/db19-1565-p
15 罗娟,刘立伟,刘纪民,等. 非酒精性脂肪性肝病临床和病理特点及进展期纤维化危险因素性别差异的对比研究[J]. 中华肝脏病杂志, 2021, 29(4):6.
16 徐伟强, 刘淑萍, 李潇萌. 体检人群非酒精性脂肪性肝病检出率及其危险因素分析[J]. 实用肝脏病杂志,2023, 26(1): 35-38.
17 王燕萍,邬美花,王朝迅,等. 空腹血糖受损合并非酒精性脂肪性肝病患者的危险因素分析[J]. 检验医学与临床,2022,19(14):1922-1925.
18 ZOU Y, YU M, SHENG G. Association between fasting plasma glucose and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a nonobese Chinese population with normal blood lipid levels: A prospective cohort study [J]. Lipid Health Dis, 2020, 19(1): 145. doi:10.1186/s12944-020-01326-3
19 罗珊,冯莹,范丹丹,等. 血管生成素样蛋白8敲除减轻脂多糖诱导的肝脏脂质沉积[J]. 实用医学杂志,2024,40(9):1197-1203.
20 ZHEN Q, LIANG Q, WANG H, et al. Theabrownin ameliorates liver inflammation, oxidative stress, and fibrosis in MCD diet-fed C57BL/6J mice [J]. Front Endocrinol, 2023, 14:1118925. doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1118925
21 ZHANG Z, JI G, LI M. Glucokinase regulatory protein: a balancing act between glucose and lipid metabolism in NAFLD[J]. Front Endocrinol, 2023, 14:1247611. doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1247611
22 WU N, ZHAI X, YUAN F, et al. Fasting glucose mediates the influence of genetic variants of SOD2 gene on lean non-alcoholic fatty liver disease [J]. Front Gene, 2022, 13:970854. doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.970854
Outlines

/