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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1556646
This article is part of the Research Topic Research in Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Metabolic Syndrome: Cellular Pathways and Therapeutic Innovations View all articles
Inflammatory Markers as Predictors of Liver Fibrosis in Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease
Provisionally accepted- 1 Hebei Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Hebei, China
- 2 Zhengding Country People's Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
Objective: This study investigates the link between inflammatory markers and liver fibrosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).Methods: From Oct 2020 to Oct 2024, 769 hospitalized T2DM patients were studied. They were split into Control (n=389) and Experimental groups (T2DM with MAFLD, n=380). The Experimental group was further divided based on FIB-4 scores into non-fibrosis (FIB-4 < 1.3, n=267), suspected fibrosis (1.3 ≤ FIB-4 ≤ 2.67, n=99), and advanced fibrosis (FIB-4 > 2.67, n=14). Logistic regression identified factors affecting liver fibrosis, while ROC analysis assessed the predictive value of NLR, SIRI, PLR, and PHR for liver fibrosis in T2DM-MAFLD patients.Results: The Experimental group showed higher BMI, FPG, TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT, AST, ALB, GGT, and SUA, but lower age, diabetes duration, MPV, and HDL-C (P < 0.05). Compared to non-fibrosis, suspected fibrosis had higher age, diabetes duration, MPV, AST, and NLR, and lower LY, PLR, PHR.Advanced fibrosis featured higher age, AST, NLR, FPG, HbA1c, SIRI, and lower LY, RBC, LDL-C, PLR, PHR, Hb, PLT, and ALB (P < 0.05). Logistic regression identified NLR, SIRI, PLR, and PHR as significant factors for liver fibrosis. ROC analysis showed AUCs of 0.712 (NLR), 0.757 (SIRI), 0.703 (PLR), and 0.806 (PHR) with sensitivities and specificities varying among markers. Optimal cut-offs were 1.573 (NLR), 1.465 (SIRI), 110.819 (PLR), and 185.379 (PHR).Conclusions: NLR, SIRI, PLR, and PHR significantly influence liver fibrosis in T2DM patients with MAFLD, aiding in its diagnosis and management.
Keywords: Inflammatory markers, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis, diagnosis
Received: 17 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tang, Deng, Zhang, Wang, Wang, Wu and Gu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yulong Deng, Hebei Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Hebei, 050000, China
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