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. 2022 Mar 7;11(5):1445.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11051445.

Hyperuricemia Is Associated with Significant Liver Fibrosis in Subjects with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, but Not in Subjects without It

Pei-Chia Yen  1 , Yu-Tsung Chou  1   2 , Chung-Hao Li  3   4 , Zih-Jie Sun  1   5   6 , Chih-Hsing Wu  1   6   7 , Yin-Fan Chang  1   6 , Feng-Hwa Lu  1   6 , Yi-Ching Yang  1   6 , Chih-Jen Chang  1   6   8 , Jin-Shang Wu  1   5   6
Affiliations

Hyperuricemia Is Associated with Significant Liver Fibrosis in Subjects with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, but Not in Subjects without It

Pei-Chia Yen et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Liver fibrosis is associated with liver-related outcomes, yet often remains underdiagnosed in primary care settings. Hyperuricemia is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but the relationship between hyperuricemia and liver fibrosis remains unclear. Data on individuals without NAFLD is also limited. We investigated the association between hyperuricemia and liver fibrosis in subjects with and without NAFLD. This study recruited 11,690 relevant participants from a health-checkup center. NAFLD was based on ultrasonography. Hyperuricemia was defined as serum uric acid > 6.0 mg/dL in women and >7.0 mg/dL in men. Significant liver fibrosis was diagnosed with the aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index ≥0.5. The following were positively associated with significant liver fibrosis: hyperuricemia (p = 0.001), age ≥ 65 years (p < 0.001), male gender (p < 0.001), obesity (p = 0.009), hypertension (p = 0.002), diabetes (p < 0.001), and NAFLD (p < 0.001) in the logistic regression. The positive association of hyperuricemia with significant liver fibrosis remained in subjects with NAFLD (p = 0.001), but not in subjects without NAFLD. In conclusion, hyperuricemia increased the associated risk of significant liver fibrosis. The positively associated risk existed in subjects with NAFLD, but not in those without it.

Keywords: hyperuricemia; liver fibrosis; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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