Clinical Significance of Serum Ferritin in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of serum ferritin(SF) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods A total of 158 cases taken the physical examinations were divided into NAFLD group and control group according to the liver B ultrasonography results. Serum ferritin (SF), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), uric acid (UA), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were compared in two groups. Results SF, TG, UA, AST and ALT were significantly higher in NAFLD group than those in control group, but HDL-C was lower than that in control group (P 0.01). In NAFLD group, SF was positively correlated with AST and ALT (r = 0.260, 0.299, P 0.01). Conclusion The high levels of SF may be a sensitive indicator involved in early injury of fatty liver and play a certain role in the process of NAFLD.