Association between hemoglobin glycation index and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

The hemoglobin glycation index (HGI) reflects biological variability in hemoglobin A1c. Even so, studies on the relationship between HGI and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the relationship between HGI and NAFLD. In addition, the study also aimed to provide new methods to identify patients with a high risk for the development of NAFLD.

This was a retrospective study based on physical examination data from Japan. Patients were divided into quartiles (Q1-Q4) according to their HGI level; the lowest quartile (Q1) was used as the reference group. Patents were also classified into two subgroups based on the presence or absence of NAFLD. Baseline characteristics between the groups were compared. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between the HGI and NAFLD. A mediation analysis examined the mediation relationship between HGI and NAFLD. Subgroup analyses were performed to the reliability of the results.

A total of 14280 patients were eligible for inclusion in this study; 2515 had NAFLD. Patients in the NAFLD group had higher levels of HGI than patients in the non-NAFLD group. Increases in HGI correlated with an increased risk of NAFLD. After adjusting for confounding factors, the multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that HGI was positively related to the prevalence of NAFLD. In addition, mediation analysis showed that body mass index (BMI) partly mediated the indirect impact of HGI on NAFLD preference. Subgroup analyses were performed according to age, sex, smoking status, and waist circumference. Our results indicated that HGI significantly correlated with NAFLD in patients with one of the following factors: age ≤60 years, BMI >28 kg/m², female sex, a history of smoking, and abdominal obesity.

HGI was an independent risk factor for NAFLD, and BMI partly mediated the association between HGI and NAFLD.