| خلاصه مقاله | Introduction:
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease and the hepatic manifestation of metabolic disorders like obesity. Changes in glucose homeostasis and insulin resistance seems to be the main pathological step for NAFLD. Almost 38% of the general population are affected by NAFLD and this number reaches to 65% in obese individuals. Body mass index (BMI) is a commonly used tool to assess body health status, while it seems to be a poor diagnostic tool for obesity-related disorders due to limitations in the differentiating obese and non-obese individuals and reflecting body composition state. Lipid accumulation product index (LAP) as a novel, non-invasive and simple model, combines waist circumference (WC) measures and triglycerides level in order to evaluate multi-metabolic disorders such as NAFLD. The current study aims to investigate the association between LAP index and glycemic status in patients with NAFLD.
Methods and Materials:
The proposal of this study was approved by Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (IR.TBZMED.REC.1402.620). This cross-sectional study included 232 participants (96 men and 136 women) aged 18 to 55 years with a BMI between 30 to 40 Kg/m2. Participants were assessed for liver steatosis and classified into healthy, grade one and grade two hepatic steatosis, based on ultrasound findings. Weight, height, and waist circumference were measured. Subsequent to overnight fasting, serum levels of fasting glucose (FBS), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and triglycerides (TGs) were evaluated. Indeed, LAP values calculated based on the reference formula.
Results:
At the end of the study patients were classified into healthy (n= 19), grade I (n=101) and grade II patient with NAFLD (n=112), respectively. The mean of age was 36.69 ± 8.36 years in males and 37.73 ± 7.28 years in females group, respectively. We found that LAP values markedly increased in line with the aggravation of hepatic steatosis; from 63.72 ± 22.26 to 112.14 ± 56.97. Moreover, LAP values were not significantly different between two genders. LAP was significantly and positively correlated with serum FBS levels (r=0.199, p=0.002). Comparison between genders revealed that in men, there were significant correlations between LAP and serum FBS and HbA1c (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively)
Conclusion and discussion:
Our findings suggests that LAP index reflects the severity of liver steatosis as well as serum FBS levels, especially in men. In other words, LAP could be considered as a suitable tool for evaluating NAFLD and its related outcomes, while further research in this area is recommended. |