[Predictive value of C-reactive protein in emerging non-alcoholic fatty liver disease]

Objective: To investigate the predictive value of C-reactive protein (CRP) in emerging non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed. A total of 101510 employees of Kailuan Group Company who underwent physical examination from July 2006 to October 2007 were enrolled as study subjects. The employees with a history of drinking, fatty liver disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, and malignant tumors and incomplete data were excluded. Finally 25843 employees were enrolled in the cohort study. According to the baseline CRP level, these employees were divided into CRP < 1 mg/L group, CRP 1-3 mg/L group, and CRP > 3 mg/L group. The detection rate of emerging NAFLD was compared between groups, and the multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk of NAFLD in each group. Results: With the increasing CRP level, age, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, waist circumference, body mass index, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, serum uric acid, and the proportion of male patients tended to increase (P< 0.01). The detection rate of emerging NAFLD was 24.6% in the CRP < 1 mg/L group, 29.6% in the CRP 1-3 mg/L group, and 30.6% in the CRP > 3 mg/L group (χ ²= 92.10,P< 0.01). The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that after the confounding factors such as age, sex, and waist circumference were corrected, the risk of NAFLD in the CRP 1-3 mg/L group and CRP > 3 mg/L group was 1.09 (95%CI1.01-1.17) and 1.24 (95%CI1.13-1.35) times that in the CRP < 1 mg/L group. Conclusion: CRP is the independent risk factor for the development of NAFLD.