Abstract: Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of serum syndecan-4 (SDC4) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods The individuals having no history of excessive alcohol consumption were selected between June to December 2019, and all underwent ultrasonography. Serum SDC4 level was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The univariate and multivariate analysis and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) were applied to analyze the diagnostic value of serum SDC4 level for NAFLD. Results A total of 209 adults were included in this study, including 102 patients with NAFLD and 107 healthy persons after US check-up; serum SDC4 level in patients with NAFLD was significantly higher than that in the control group (11.7±4.2 ng / mL vs. 5.3±2.5 ng / mL, P < 0.05), and serum SDC4 levels increased significantly as the severity of fatty liver became severe in patients with NAFLD; the Logistic regression analysis found that the increased serum SDC4 level was independently related to NAFLD occurrence; when serum SDC4 level equal to or greater than 8.45 ng/mL as the cut-off-value, the area under ROC was 0.917, with the sensitivity of 84.3% and the specificity of 87.9%. Conclusion The increased serum SDC4 levels could be closely related to obesity, metabolic disorders and the incidence of NAFLD, and the detection of serum SDC4 levels might be helpful for non-invasive diagnosis of NAFLD.

Key words: Non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, Polyligand proteoglycan-4, Diagnosis