Goals: In this study, predictive panels were constructed and validated to recognize an individual with and without nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) based on clinical and biochemical criteria.
Methods: Two hundred and thirty six non-alcoholic adults with no chronic viral hepatitis history were recruited from a medical center in Taiwan in 2013. All subjects were examined for body mass index (BMI), abdominal ultrasonography, blood liver function tests (including alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], gamma glutamyl transpeptidase [GGT]), blood lipids (total cholesterol [TC] and triglyceride [TG]) and blood glucose (BG) tests.
Results: NAFLD was observed in 66.97% of subjects. BMI (p<0.001), ALT (p<0.001), AST (p=0.014), GGT (p=0.034), TC (p=0.026), TG (p<0.001) and BG (p<0.001) were significantly higher for subjects with NAFLD than subjects without NAFLD. The BMI results (p<0.001), TG (p<0.001), ALT (p<0.001), BG (p<0.001), AST (p=0.001), and GGT (p=0.001) correlated well with the extent of NAFLD. The increasing risks of NAFLD are hypertriglyceridemia (p<0.001), high ALT (p<0.001), high GGT (p=0.009), and hypercholesterolemia (p=0.017). Moreover, NAFLD was observed in 98.5% (p<0.001) of subjects with three clinical manifestations of body overweight, hypertriglyceridemia and high ALT. Additionally, NAFLD was observed in 96.5% (p<0.001) of subjects with other tri-criteria (body overweight, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypercholesterolemia), or 92.6% (p<0.001) of subjects with another tri-criteria (body overweight, hypertriglyceridemia, and high GGT).
Conclusion: The tri-criteria of diagnoses can accurately predict the surveillance of NAFLD.
Keywords: NAFLD; fatty liver disease; metabolic syndrome.
© 2017 by the Association of Clinical Scientists, Inc.