BackgroundThe prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcohol-associated/related liver disease (ALD) with metabolic syndrome is globally increasing. Metabolic syndrome and excessive alcohol consumption synergically exacerbate liver pathologies; therefore, drinking-speci c serum markers unaffected by liver injury or metabolic syndrome are essential to assess alcohol consumption. We evaluated the ratio of carbohydrate-de cient transferrin to total transferrin (%CDT) in patients with fatty liver disease, particularly focusing on its correlation with metabolic factors (UMIN000033550).
MethodsA total of 120 patients with fatty liver disease, including ALD and NAFLD, were screened for alcohol misuse using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identi cation Test. Associations of metabolic syndrome-related factors and hepatic steatosis/liver stiffness with drinking markers such as %CDT, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were assessed using multiple linear regression analyses.
Results%CDT signi cantly increased with 3-4 drinks/day. The optimal cut-off value for identifying non-to light drinkers was 1.78% (sensitivity, 71.8%; speci city, 83.7%; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC], 0.851), which was signi cantly higher than that for GGT. The cut-off value for identifying heavy drinkers was 2.08% (sensitivity, 65.5%; speci city, 86.8%; AUROC, 0.815). Multiple regression analysis revealed that this proportion was negatively correlated with body mass index, whereas GGT and MCV were in uenced by multiple factors involved in liver injury and dyslipidemia.
Conclusions%CDT showed a strong correlation with alcohol consumption, independent of liver damage, steatosis/stiffness, or metabolic syndrome-related factors, indicating that it is a useful drinking marker for the accurate diagnosis of NAFLD and ALD.