Objective To explore the value of triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein (TG/HDL-C) ratio in the diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese adolescents.

Methods Totally, 114 obese adolescent patients in Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital outpatient or hospitalized from August 2012 to August 2017 were included in this study. Waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), hydrogen proton magnetic resonance data (¹H-MRS), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG) and insulin (INS), and other clinical data were collected. TG/HDL-C and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated.

Results There were no significant differences in age, sex, BMI, TC, WC, diastolic blood pressure, ALT, and FBG between the two groups. The systolic blood pressure and hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) levels in the high TG/HDL-C group were significantly higher than those in the low TG/HDL-C group (P=0.02 and less, respectively). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that TG/HDL-C was an independent risk factor for NAFLD among obese adolescents (OR=5.78, 95% CI 2.23-14.97, P < 0.001). TG/HDL-C predicts the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of NAFLD in obese adolescents, with a sensitivity of 72.5% and a specificity of 71.6% at 2.64 as the diagnostic threshold.

Conclusions TG/HDL-C can be used to predict the risk of NAFLD in obese adolescents.