The albumin to globulin ratio is associated with mucosal healing in Japanese patients with ulcerative colitis: A cross-sectional study

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Background Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease. Mucosal healing (MH) is inversely associated with clinical outcome. The albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) is known as chronic inflammation marker. While some evidence regarding an association between AGR and some chronic diseases has been reported, no evidence regarding association between AGR and UC exists. The aim of this study to evaluated the association between AGR and MH among Japanese patients with UC. Methods The study subjects consisted of 273 Japanese patients with UC. AGR was divided into quartiles on the basis of the distribution of all study subjects. One endoscopic specialist was responsible for evaluating MH, which was defined as a Mayo endoscopic subscore of 0 or 0–1. Age, sex, steroid use, body mass index, age at onset of UC, and anti-TNFα preparation were selected a <jats:italic>priori</jats:italic> as potential confounding factors. Results The mean age was 51.2 years, and the percentage of male patients was 59.0%. The percentage of MH was 26.4%. High AGR (1.483 < AGR ≤ 1.643) and very high AGR (> 1.643) was significantly positively associated with MH (OR 2.21 [95% CI: 1.12–4.47], p for trend = 0.001) after adjustment for confounding factors. No association between AGR and partial MH was found. The independent positive association between AGR and MH was found in only low C-reactive protein group. Conclusion Among Japanese patients with UC, AGR was significantly positively associated with MH, was significantly positively associated with MH especially in the low C-reactive protein group.</jats:p>