Comparison of four non-alcoholic fatty liver disease detection scores in a Caucasian population
Lars Lind, L. E. B. Johansson, Håkan Åhlström, Jan W. Eriksson, Anders Larsson, Ulf Risérus, Joel Kullberg, Jan Oscarsson
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common disorder, with an estimated prevalence ranging from 20% to 35% in the general population. Several scores based on easily measurable biochemical and clinical parameters, including the fatty liver index (FLI), hepatic steatosis index (HSI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), and NAFLD liver fat score (LFS), have been developed for the detection of NAFLD. However, comparative information regarding the efficacy of these scores for predicting NAFLD in population-based samples comprising normal and high-risk individuals is lacking. AIM: To evaluate four NAFLD detection scores in two samples with different NAFLD risks. METHODS: = 310; EFFECT studies). NAFLD was defined as liver fat > 5.5% using magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction. FLI, HSI, LAP, and NAFLD LFS were assessed. A logistic regression model was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the different scores. RESULTS: = 0.11). We performed a sensitivity analysis with stratification for the two high-risk subgroups (patients with diabetes or hypertriglyceridemia) from the EFFECT studies. LAP performed best in patients with hypertriglyceridemia. No major differences were observed between the other scores. CONCLUSION: high-risk setting. FLI was preferable in the population-based setting, while LFS performed best in the high-risk setting.