Objective  To investigate the predictive value of atherosclerotic index of plasma (AIP) for the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods  A retrospective analysis was conducted in 299 patients with NAFLD. Based on presence or absence of CHD, the patients were divided into NAFLD with CHD group (n=177) and NAFLD group (n=122). Clinical data were collected from both groups, and AIP was calculated. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the independent risk factors for CHD in patients with NAFLD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the predictive value of AIP for the risk of CHD in patients with NAFLD.

Results  The NAFLD with CHD group had a higher proportion of males, smokers, and higher levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), uric acid (UA), and AIP than the NAFLD group. The NAFLD with CHD group also had lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) than the NAFLD group (P < 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that males (OR=2.548, 95%CI, 1.402 to 4.632, P=0.002), high levels of AST (OR=1.038, 95%CI, 1.002 to 1.077, P=0.041), high levels of LDL-C (OR=1.811, 95%CI, 1.242 to 2.640, P=0.002), and high AIP (OR=16.117, 95%CI, 1.874 to 138.609, P=0.011) were independent risk factors for CHD in patients with NAFLD (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that AIP had an area under the curve of 0.746 (95%CI, 0.688 to 0.804) for predicting CHD in patients with NAFLD, with a sensitivity of 76.3% and a specificity of 73.0%.

Conclusion  AIP is an independent influencing factor for CHD in patients with NAFLD and has certain predictive value for the risk of CHD in these patients.