Publication:

Study of serum ferritin levels in patients of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with and without metabolic syndrome

Background Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), defined as excessive deposition of fat >5% of liver weight is considered as liver manifestation of systemic metabolic dysregulation. Abdominal imaging is not able to determine which individuals with NAFLD have associated liver-cell death and inflammation (i.e., NASH), and specific blood tests to diagnose NASH are not yet available. Serum ferritin is a protein, expressed in an acute phase, elevated in the case of liver necrosis, inflammation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the correlations between serum ferritin levels and NAFLD in patients with and without metabolic syndrome to explore a new biological marker for diagnosis and treatment.

Methods A prospective study was performed among 100 cases of metabolic syndrome and 100 controls without metabolic syndrome, from November 2022-August 2024. Patients fulfilling inclusion criteria underwent ultrasonography for diagnosis and grading of NAFLD and their serum ferritin, clinical and lipid profiles were assessed in both the groups with and without metabolic syndrome.

Results Serum ferritin levels were higher in cases across NAFLD grades compared to controls, and a strong positive correlation was observed between serum ferritin levels and NAFLD severity.

Conclusions Patients with NAFLD exhibited a strong positive relationship between serum ferritin levels and NAFLD severity, suggesting that elevated ferritin levels may be an important marker for NAFLD progression. The findings underscore the importance of monitoring metabolic parameters and serum ferritin in assessing severity of NAFLD and adds value to the available armamentarium to tackle the syndrome.