Relationship Between Immune Parameters and Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Obese Children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between immune parameters and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Hospital-based study in Zhejiang Province, China between July to September 2015. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 117 obese children and 209 healthy non-obese children were studied as the obese and control groups. Depending on the severity of NAFLD, the obese group was divided into subgroups 1 (without NAFLD), 2 (with simple fatty liver) and 3 (with steatohepatitis). OUTCOME MEASURES: Glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism and immune parameters. RESULTS: In the obese group, body mass index (BMI), waist-and hip-circumferences, fasting insulin, Homeostasis model of assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoprotein (Apo)B/ApoA1, alanine aminotransferase, uric acid, white blood cells, neutrophils percentage, platelet and interleukin (IL)-6 were significantly higher than those in the controls (P<0.05), while lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol and lymphocyte percentage were noted (P<0.05). IL-10 in the subgroup 3 was higher than those in the control group, subgroup 1 and 2 (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that BMI, LDL-C, HOMA-IR and IL-10 were independent factors of NAFLD (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results support a low-grade chronic inflammation in obese children. Moreover, obesity, dyslipidaemia and IR are risk factors while IL-10 may be a protective factor for NAFLD.