Serum folate associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced hepatic fibrosis - PubMed (original) (raw)

Serum folate associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced hepatic fibrosis

Hao-Kai Chen et al. Sci Rep. 2023.

Abstract

The role played by serum folate in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of serum folate with NAFLD and advanced liver fibrosis (AHF). We conducted a cross-sectional study with 5417 participants using 2011-2018 NHANES data. Multiple logistic regression analysis and propensity score matching analysis were used to investigate the association of serum folate with NAFLD and AHF. In the completely adjusted model, participants in the high serum folate group had a 27% (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.62, 0.87, p = 0.0003) and 53% (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.35, 0.63, p < 0.0001) lower odds of suffering from NAFLD and AHF, respectively, compared to the low serum folate group. The similar results in propensity score matching further validated the above association. Stratified analysis showed that the negative correlation of serum folate with NAFLD and AHF demonstrated a broad consistency across populations. The results of this study indicate that higher serum folate level was associated with lower odds of NAFLD and AHF among US adults. Further prospective studies are necessary due to the limitations of cross-sectional studies.

© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Flow chart for inclusion and exclusion of participants.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Smoothing curve fitting plot.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Multivariate analysis before and after matching for NAFLD.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Multivariate analysis before and after matching for AHF.

Figure 5

Figure 5

Stratified analysis. NAFLD Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, AHF advanced liver fibrosis. The adjusted model in the stratification analysis was constructed based on model 3, adjusted for age, sex, race, education level, PIR, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, Hypertension status, Diabetes status, smoking status, work activities status, recreational activities status, dietary energy intake, dietary protein intake, dietary folate intake and dietary alcohol intake. Stratification variables were excluded from the adjusted model.

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