Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global health problem affecting more than a quarter of the entire adult population. Both monocytes and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were found to participate in the progression of hepatic inflammation and oxidative stress. We speculated that the monocyte-to-HDL-C ratio (MHR) may be associated with the risk of NAFLD.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017–2018. NAFLD was identified using a controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) of ≥274 dB/m. Degree of liver fibrosis were assessed by liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and LSM values≥8.0, ≥ 9.7, and ≥13.7 kPa were defined as significant fibrosis (≥F2), advanced fibrosis (≥F3) and cirrhosis (F4), respectively. The association between MHR and the risk of NAFLD and liver fibrosis was estimated using weighted multivariable logistic regression. The non-linear relationship between MHR and the risk of NAFLD was further described using smooth curve fittings and threshold effect analysis.Results: Of 4,319 participants, a total of 1,703 (39.4%) participants were diagnosed with NAFLD. After complete adjustment for potential confounders, MHR was positively associated with the risk of NAFLD (OR = 2.87, 95% CI: 1.95–4.22). The risk of NAFLD increased progressively as the MHR quarter increased (P for trend < 0.001). In subgroup analysis stratified by sex, a positive association existed in both sexes; Women displayed higher risk (men: OR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.33–3.39; women: OR = 2.64, 95%CI: 1.40–4.97). MHR was positively associated with the risk of significant liver fibrosis (OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.08–2.37) and cirrhosis (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.08–3.13), but not with advanced liver fibrosis (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.98–2.39) after full adjustment for potential confounders. In the subgroup analysis by sex, the association between MHR and different degrees of liver fibrosis was significantly positive in women. When analyzing the relationship between MHR and NAFLD risk, a reverse U-shaped curve with an inflection point of 0.36 for MHR was found in women.Conclusion: Higher MHR was associated with increased odds of NAFLD among Americans of both sexes. However, an association between MHR and liver fibrosis was found mainly among women.

Background: The prevalence of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obesity is worldwide on the rise. Body roundness index (BRI), as a newly developed anthropometric indicator, has been recently reported to identify obesity. However, it is still unclear whether BRI is associated with the prevalence of NAFLD.Methods: Data were from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017–2018. NAFLD was diagnosed based on hepatic steatosis defined by CAP values ≥274 dB/m. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to detect the association between BRI and the odds of NAFLD. Subgroup analysis stratified by age, gender, BMI, and race was further conducted. To explore the potential ability of BRI in predicting NAFLD, the area under the curve (AUC) of BRI was calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.Results: Among the 4467 study participants, 1718 (38.5%) were diagnosed with NAFLD. Compared to the non‐NAFLD group, participants with NAFLD had a higher level of BRI. The positive associations between BRI and NAFLD were detected in all three models (mode 1: OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.65–1.78, p < 0.0001; mode 2: OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.71–1.86, p < 0.0001; mode3: OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.11–1.35, p < 0.0001). The positive association steadily existed in different subgroups after stratified by age, gender, and BMI. Moreover, the non‐linear association between BRI and NAFLD was detected, presenting inverted U‐shaped curves. Furthermore, BRI had a high predictive value (AUC = 0.807) in identifying NAFLD.Conclusions: BRI was positively associated with the prevalence of NAFLD among individuals in America, regardless of age, gender, and BMI. Besides, BRI presented a high ability for identifying NAFLD.

Background: The association between the serum uric acid (sUA) to creatinine ratio (sUA/Cr) and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has not been sufficiently clarified. In this study, we investigated the relationship between sUA/Cr and NAFLD among participants in the United States.Methods: We performed a cross‐sectional study based on data from the National Health and Nutrition examination Survey (NHANES) 2017–2018. A measured controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) value of ≥274 dB/m detected by Fibroscan was used to identify hepatic steatosis. SUA/Cr was calculated as sUA divided by serum creatinine. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between sUA/Cr and NAFLD. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of sUA/Cr for NAFLD was estimated, and subgroup analysis stratified by sex was also conducted. The nonlinear relationship between sUA/Cr and NAFLD was further described using smooth curve fittings and threshold‐effect analysis.Results: We found that sUA/Cr was positively correlated with NAFLD status after fully adjustment for confounding factors. In subgroup analysis stratified by sex, the positive interaction between sUA/Cr and NAFLD status only existed in women but not in men. Moreover, the nonlinear association between sUA/Cr and NAFLD status was an inverted U‐shaped curve with an inflection point at 9.7 among men.Conclusions: Our study identified that sUA/Cr was positively associated with the risk of NAFLD among individuals in the United States. Moreover, the correlation between sUA/Cr and NAFLD differed according to sex.

We aim to evaluate the prevalence of steatotic liver disease (SLD) in United States (US) adolescents and explore whether metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) can identify individuals with clinically significant fibrosis (CSF) in this study. The prevalence of SLD and its categories, including MASLD, metabolic dysfunction and alcohol associated liver disease (MetALD), alcohol related liver disease (ALD) and other SLD were determined. Weighted multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between MASLD and CSF in adolescents with SLD. Among the total 1,446 US adolescents, SLD was present in 291 (20.1%) of individuals, including 260 (17.9%) for MASLD, 9 (0.6%) for MetALD and 5 (0.3%) for ALD. Only 58 (4%) had CSF. Patients with SLD showed a higher prevalence of CSF (9.6% vs. 2.6%, p < 0.001). Among patients with SLD, 89.3% met the MASLD criteria. The risk of CSF in patients with MASLD was not significantly different (odds ratio [OR] = 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.30–3.83, p = 0.9180) compared with those without MASLD. MASLD was met by most of the US adolescents with SLD. Moreover, MASLD was not associated with higher prevalence of CSF among adolescents with SLD.

Summary: Background: Recent studies have focused initial clinical and Epidemiologic characteristics on the COVID-19, mainly revealing situation in Wuhan, Hubei. Aim: To reveal more data on the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients outside of Wuhan, in Zhejiang, China. Design: Retrospective case series. Methods: 88 cases of laboratory-confirmed and 3 cases of clinical-confirmed COVID-19 were admitted to five hospitals in Zhejiang province, China. Data were collected from 20 January 2020 to 11 February 2020. Results: Of all 91 patients, 88 (96.70%) were laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 with throat swab samples that tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 while 3 (3.30%) were clinical-diagnosed COVID-19 cases. The median age of the patients was 50 (36.5-57) years, and female accounted for 59.34%. In this sample 40 (43.96%) patients had contracted the diseases from local cases, 31 (34.07%) patients had been to Wuhan/Hubei, 8 (8.79%) cases had contacted with people from Wuhan, 11 (12.09%) cases were confirmed aircraft transmission. In particular within the city of Ningbo, 60.52% cases can be traced back to an event held in a temple. The most common symptoms were fever (71.43%), cough (60.44%) and fatigue (43.96%). The median of incubation period was 6 (IQR, 3-8) days and the median time from first visit to a doctor to confirmed diagnosis was 1 (1-2) days. According to the Chest computed tomography scans, 67.03% cases had bilateral pneumonia. Conclusions: Social activity cluster, family cluster and travel by airplane were how COVID-19 patients get transmitted and could be rapidly diagnosed COVID-19 in Zhejiang.