Introduction: Many of the patients presenting with metabolic syndrome (MetS) also have liver steatosis (NAFLD) and some of them could develop liver fibrosis.
Purpose: To develop a simple score that could rule out fibrosis, especially significant fibrosis (F≥2) and could be used in daily practice in patients with MetS, in order to identify patients at risk.
Patients and methods: A total of 204 patients with MetS were prospectively enrolled. Evaluation of liver fibrosis was made using Vibration Controlled Transient Elastography while evaluation of steatosis was achieved using ultrasound (US).
Results: Out of 204 patients with MetS, 179 patients (87.7%) had reliable liver stiffness measurements and 22.9% (41/179) had F ≥2. To formulate the fibrosis predicting score, all clinical variables associated with F ≥2 in the univariate analysis were considered in a multivariate regression model. According to the power of correlation, by consensus, we attributed 1 point for BMI >31.4 kg/m2, 1 point for female gender, 1 point for HDLc <47mg/dL, 1 point for mild steatosis at US, 1.5 point for moderate and 2 points for severe steatosis.
Conclusion: At an optimal cut-off value of <3.5, our score could be used to rule-out the risk for developing at least significant fibrosis with a high negative predictive value (NPV 89.2%) in patients with MetS.
Keywords: liver elastography; liver fibrosis; liver steatosis; metabolic syndrome.
© 2022 Mare et al.