Diagnostic Value of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Evaluated Using Transient Elastography (TE) with Controlled Attenuated Parameter (CAP)

BACKGROUND: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic inflammatory disease with excessive fat accumulation in the liver. Transient elastography (TE) with controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) is a device and method to examine the degree of fibrosis and steatosis. However, this device is not widely available across Indonesia. Neutrophil and lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a simple marker for inflammation, which has a potency to predict disease outcome. This study aims to know the diagnostic value of NLR as the indicator of steatosis and fibrosis severity. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study with consecutive sample collection. We used secondary data from medical records, starting from 2016 to 2018. A descriptive and data analysis, including correlation test, multivariate linear regression, t-test, receiver operating curve (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) were done to find out the outcome of the study. Statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois). A P value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: Out of 106 subjects, 62.3% patients were women with the mean of age 57.29 years old and 77.4% had metabolic syndrome. Most patients had moderate to severe steatosis degree (66%) with the mean of TE mean 6.14 (2.8–18.2) kPa. There was a positive correlation between CAP and TE compared with NLR with r = 0.648 (p < 0.001) and r = 0.621 (p < 0.001), respectively. The use of RNL to assess moderate-severe steatosis has a cutoff point of 1.775 with sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV, respectively, at 81.5%, 80.6%, 89.1%, and 69.1%; cutoff point 2.150 to assess significant fibrosis with sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 92.3%, 87.5%, 70.6%, and 97.2%, respectively. CONCLUSION: NLR has a positive and significant correlation with the degree of steatosis and fibrosis with high sensitivity and specificity as evaluated by TE/CAP.