Serum Osteocalcin is Associated with the Presence of Hepatic Steatosis in Chinese Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Abstract This study aimed to explore the potential association between serum osteocalcin (OCN) and hepatic steatosis (HS) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). In this cross-sectional study, a total of 263 CHB patients were enrolled and their baseline profiles were analyzed from January 2020 to January 2022. HS was defined based on the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) value. Specifically, patients with a CAP value exceeding 248 dB/m were diagnosed with HS. Among the 263 patients, 76 with HS and 187 without HS. The levels of serum OCN were lower in with HS than in without HS participants (P = 0.002). Scatter plots with Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that there was a negative correlation among OCN levels with CAP (r = − 0.134, P  = 0.030), ALB (r = − 0.21, P  < 0.001), and GLB (r = − 139, P  = 0.025). Logistic regression analysis showed that the OCN levels (OR, 0.93; P  = 0.021) were negatively associated with HS, and age (OR, 1.04; P  = 0.013), ALT (OR, 1.05; P  = 0.003), and γ-GT (OR,1.04; P  = 0.001) positively associated with HS. In stratified analysis, the association remained significant in the age ( P  = 0.020), OCN ( P  = 0.026), GLB ( P  = 0.037), ALT ( P  = 0.020), and γ-GT ( P  < 0.001) in CHB patients. Our finding suggested that serum OCN was independently and negatively associated with HS in CHB patients.