Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40547368›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in nutrition2025

Association between Life's Crucial 9 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: the mediating role of neutrophil-percentage-to-albumin ratio.

Na Zhu, Yanyan Li, Yingying Lin, XinYu Cui, Xin Li

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Article in Frontiers in nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Na ZhuCenter of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Yanyan LiCenter of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Yingying LinCenter of Integrative Medicine, Peking University Ditan Teaching Hospital, Beijing, China.
XinYu CuiCenter of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Xin LiCenter of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The development of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is closely associated with cardiovascular health (CVH) status and chronic inflammation. Life's Crucial 9 (LC9) is the most recent index to assess CVH; its association with MASLD and liver fibrosis is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association of LC9 with MASLD and hepatic fibrosis and to reveal for the first time the mediating role of a novel inflammatory marker, neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR), in the association between LC9 and MASLD. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005 to 2018. The United States Fatty Liver Index (US-FLI) ≥ 30 was used to diagnose MASLD, and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) > 8.2 is defined as liver fibrosis. Weighted multifactorial regression, restricted cubic spline analysis (RCS), and subgroup analyses were used to assess the association between LC9 and MASLD and liver fibrosis. Mediation analysis was used to explore the possible mediating role of NPAR in the association of LC9 with MASLD. Results: A total of 9,623 participants were included in this study. After adjusting for all confounders, LC9 was significantly and negatively associated with both MASLD (OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.54-0.64) and hepatic fibrosis (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.45-0.97), with each 10-point increase in the LC9 score decreasing the prevalence by 41% and 34%, respectively. In subgroup analyses, interaction tests showed that age, education, deprivation, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia significantly affected the association between LC9 and MASLD (P for interaction < 0.05). In addition, NPAR was positively associated with the prevalence of MASLD, with a 5% increase in the prevalence of MASLD for each unit increase in NPAR (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01-1.09). The positive association between NPAR and MASLD was stronger in younger age groups (<60 years), non-drinkers, and participants without diabetes or hyperlipidemia. Mediation analysis showed that NPAR mediated 2.84% of the association between LC9 and MASLD ( Conclusion: Good CVH status (high LC9 score) was associated with lower prevalence of MASLD and liver fibrosis, and NPAR partially mediated the association between LC9 and MASLD. This study provides new epidemiological evidence for preventing MASLD by improving CVH and inflammatory modulation.

Indexed as

Life’s Crucial 9liver fibrosisMASLDmediation analysisNHANESNPAR

Identifiers

PMID40547368
PMCPMC12178901

What Socratic holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.