Mean Corpuscular Volume Is Correlated with Liver Fibrosis Defined by Noninvasive Blood Biochemical Indices in Individuals with Metabolic Disorders Aged 60 Years or Older

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 14; no. 13; p. 4680
• Main Authors: Kaneko, Yousuke, Kawano, Yutaka, Kawata, Saki, Mori, Kensuke, Hosoki, Minae, Hori, Taiki, Miyataka, Kohsuke, Tsuji, Seijiro, Hara, Tomoyo, Yamagami, Hiroki, Otoda, Toshiki, Yuasa, Tomoyuki, Kuroda, Akio, Harada, Takeshi, Miki, Hirokazu, Nakamura, Shingen, Endo, Itsuro, Matsuhisa, Munehide, Matsuoka, Ken-ichi, Aihara, Ken-ichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.07.2025; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Anemia; Biopsy; Blood platelets; Blood pressure; Body mass index; Creatinine; Diabetes; Electronic health records; Erythrocytes; Ethics; Fatty liver; Fibrosis; Health aspects; Hemoglobin; High density lipoprotein; Hospitals; Hypertension; Internal medicine; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Medical records; Medicine; Metabolic disorders; Mortality; Normal distribution; Obesity; Physiological aspects; Japan; MCV; metabolic disorders; liver fibrosis; MASLD; elderlies
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm14134680

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) causes progressive liver fibrosis. Although erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) has been shown to have a positive correlation with all-cause mortality, the association between MCV and the development of MASLD has not been fully elucidated. Here, we examined the clinical significance of the association between MCV and MASLD. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 1009 Japanese individuals (including 186 individuals aged < 60 years and 823 individuals aged ≥ 60 years) with metabolic disorders. The relationships between MCV and noninvasive clinical markers of liver fibrosis, including fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) fibrosis score (NFS), were statistically evaluated. Results: Using multiple and logistic regression analyses in overall subjects, it was found that MCV was positively and independently associated with the values of FIB-4 index, APRI, NFS, and the prevalence of liver fibrosis defined by each index. However, the associations between the MCV value and MASLD indices were found to be positive in subjects aged ≥ 60 years but not in those aged < 60 years. Conclusions: MCV might be a simple and useful biomarker for the development of MASLD in the elderly.