Hepatic Steatosis Is Associated with High White Blood Cell and Platelet Counts

Abstract

The incidence of hepatic steatosis is increasing globally, and it is important to identify those at risk to prevent comorbidities. Complete blood count is a simple, convenient, and inexpensive laboratory examination which can be used to obtain white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships between WBC and platelet counts with hepatic steatosis, and whether WBC and platelet counts were associated with the severity of hepatic steatosis. We enrolled 1969 participants residing in southern Taiwan who took part in a health survey from June 2016 to September 2018 in this cross-sectional study. None of the participants were heavy alcohol users or had a history of hepatitis B or C. We collected laboratory data, and the severity of hepatic steatosis was determined by abdominal ultrasound. The overall prevalence rate of hepatic steatosis was 42.0%. There were significant trends of stepwise increases in WBC count (p < 0.001) corresponding to the severity of hepatic steatosis. After multivariable linear regression analysis, hepatic steatosis was significantly associated with high WBC count (coefficient β, 0.209; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.055 to 0.364; p = 0.008) and high platelet count (coefficient β, 12.213; 95% CI, 6.092 to 18.334; p < 0.001); also, higher WBC counts corresponded with the severity of hepatic steatosis.

Risk Factors and Diagnostic Markers for Fatty Liver and Metabolic Syndrome Among Young Adults: Insights from a Community-Based Investigation

“…Chronic low-grade in ammation with an elevated WBC count is regarded as an independent marker of fatty liver disease [18,19]. An increase in WBC count is also associated with the severity of hepatic steatosis [20]. Our study shows that AUC performs well in evaluating the independent WBC count and fatty liver or MetS compared to other complete blood counts.…”

Lysosomal acid lipase deficiency: A rare inherited dyslipidemia but potential ubiquitous factor in the development of atherosclerosis and fatty liver disease

“…Platelets also have lysosomes and thus contribute part of the activity measured by DBS ( Bentfeld-Barker and Bainton, 1982 ). WBC and platelet counts have both been reported to be increased in NAFLD steatosis and decreased in cirrhosis, so these factors are key to consider in interpreting DBS results ( Qamar and Grace, 2009 ; Chao et al, 2022 ). A study investigating platelet and leukocyte influence on DBS results in healthy subjects showed a greater correlation of total DBS LAL activity with LAL activity in platelets than in leukocytes, and observed an association of total activity with platelet but not leukocyte count ( Vespasiani-Gentilucci et al, 2017 ).…”

Neutrophils: tissue and circulating signatures of pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…With NAFLD, the excessive accumulation of free fatty acids inside the hepatocytes promotes production of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), which will in turn enhance leukocyte recruitment ( Wieckowska et al, 2008 ). The WBC counts increase proportionally with the severity of hepatic steatosis, according to Chao et al 2022) . Increase in WBC numbers has also been related to incidental NAFLD among Chinese studies ( Chung et al, 2016 ; Wang et al, 2016 ).…”