Association between serum uric acid-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease among Chinese children with obesity

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2025 Jan 8:15:1474384. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1474384. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has become one of the most prevalent chronic liver diseases worldwide. The serum uric acid-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (UHR) has been recognized as a novel marker for metabolic diseases, including MASLD. However, all previous studies were performed in adults.

Objectives: To explore the relationship between the UHR and MASLD in Chinese children with obesity.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted including 1284 obese children hospitalized at Beijing Children's Hospital between January 2016 and December 2022. Logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic splines were performed to assess the association between the UHR and the odds of MASLD. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to estimate the diagnostic value of UHR for MASLD in children with obesity.

Results: The prevalence of MASLD was high, which reached 61.76% in children with obesity. UHR levels were higher in obese children with MASLD than those with non-MASLD for both genders. After dividing all individuals into three groups according to the tertiles of UHR, the prevalence rate of MASLD increased progressively from the tertile 1 to tertile 3 of UHR (34.11% vs. 70.56% vs. 80.61%). Logistic regression analysis showed that obese children with higher UHR levels were significantly associated with MASLD risk, independent of confounding factors such as age, gender, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBG), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and creatinine (Cr). The non-linear relationship analysis demonstrated that a UHR between approximately 300 and 900 suggested a saturation effect of MASLD risk. ROC analysis indicated that UHR might serve as a predictive marker for diagnosing MASLD in obese children.

Conclusions: In children with obesity, UHR is significantly associated with MASLD and might serve as a novel and useful predictor for MASLD onset.

Keywords: children; metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease; obesity; risk; uric acid-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Biomarkers* / blood
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • China / epidemiology
  • Cholesterol, HDL* / blood
  • East Asian People
  • Fatty Liver / blood
  • Fatty Liver / complications
  • Fatty Liver / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Metabolic Diseases / blood
  • Metabolic Diseases / diagnosis
  • Metabolic Diseases / epidemiology
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / blood
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / complications
  • Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / epidemiology
  • Pediatric Obesity* / blood
  • Pediatric Obesity* / complications
  • Pediatric Obesity* / epidemiology
  • Prevalence
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Uric Acid* / blood

Substances

  • Uric Acid
  • Cholesterol, HDL
  • Biomarkers

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Beijing Hospitals Authority Youth Program (code QML20231203) and Beijing Research Ward Construction Demonstration Unit Project (code BCRW202101).