The association between non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis and mean platelet volume in an obese Korean population

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common liver disease. Since the prevalence of NAFLD in overweight/obese people is rather high, there is a general concern about the possibility that NAFLD may have an association with cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is becoming of increasing interest as a new independent cardiovascular risk factor. Accordingly, the aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between NAFLD and MPV in obese patients. The study was performed at the health promotion center in Gangnam Severance Hospital between July 2007 and June 2008. A total of 6499 healthy subjects (age range, 20-65 years) were recruited in Seoul. We performed a cross-sectional study to evaluate the association with non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis (NAHS) and MPV in 628 obese subjects. The population was divided into three groups according to MPV values. (T1 : MPV ≤ 7.7 fL, T2 : 7.7 < ≤ 8.4, T3 : > 8.4) The odds ratios (ORs) for NAHS were calculated across all three groups. The prevalence of NAHS was significantly higher according to increased MPV values after adjustment for confounding variables. The adjusted OR for NAHS according to the three groups were 1.00, 2.01(1.14 ∼ 3.56), and 2.12(1.11 ∼ 4.06) in obese subjects. In summary, there was a significant association between NAHS and MPV in obese study population.