Analysis of risk factors for fatty liver disease in children with Wilson's disease

Background and aims Many children with Wilson's disease are complicated with dyslipidemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk factors for the development of fatty liver disease (FLD) in children with Wilson's disease. Methods We evaluated sex, age, weight, the disease course, treatment course, clinical classification, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total biliary acid, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, homocysteine, uric acid, fibrinogen (FBG), creatinine, procollagen III N-terminal propeptide, laminin, hyaluronic acid, type IV collagen, and performed receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to investigate the forecast value of individual biochemical predictors and combined predictive indicators to evaluate FLD in Wilson's disease. Results The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that ALT [odds ratio (OR), 1.011; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.004-1.02; P = 0.006], uric acid (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.002-1.018; P = 0.017), FBG (OR, 3.668; 95% CI, 1.145-13.71; P = 0.037), creatinine (OR, 0.872; 95% CI, 0.81-0.925; P < 0.001), and laminin (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.002-1.018; P = 0.017) acted as independent risk factors in Wilson's disease complicated with FLD. The receiver operating characteristic curves for combined predictive indicators demonstrated an area under the curve values of 0.872, which was found to be a significant predictors for FLD in Wilson's disease. Conclusions We screened out the most important risk factors, namely ALT, uric acid, creatinine, FBG, and laminin for Wilson's disease complicated with FLD. The joint prediction achieved is crucial for identifying children with Wilson's disease complicated with FLD.