Table 1.
Patient characteristics according to the levels of HbA1c at the time of NAFLD diagnosis
| Characteristic | Total (n=331) | HbA1c (group) |
P value |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≤5.4% (n=42) (group A) | 5.5%–6.4% (n=149) (group B) | 6.5%–7.4% (n=61) (group C) | ≥7.5% (n=79) (group D) | A vs. B | A vs. C | A vs. D | B vs. C | B vs. D | C vs. D | ||
| Age, yr | 59 (46–67) | 40 (30.8–56.5) | 60 (46–68) | 63 (53–68.5) | 58 (49–65) | <0.01 | < 0.01 | < 0.01 | 0.35 | 0.92 | 0.12 |
| Male sex, % | 42.3 | 59.5 | 40.3 | 39.3 | 39.2 | 0.12b | |||||
| BMI, kg/m2 | 27.1 (24.0–30.2) | 24.3 (22.1–27.0) | 26.8 (23.7–29.7) | 27.1 (25.1–31.6) | 29.0 (25.9–31.1) | <0.01 | < 0.01 | < 0.01 | 0.53 | < 0.01 | 0.52 |
| Hemoglobin, g/L | 144 (133–152) | 147 (131–155) | 143 (134–152) | 143 (134–152) | 141 (131–155) | 0.94 | 0.94 | 0.96 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| ALT, IU/L | 61 (37–102) | 57 (31–72.8) | 70 (37.5–115) | 52 (41–96.5) | 61 (34–102) | 0.19 | 0.92 | 0.80 | 0.67 | 0.53 | 1.00 |
| UA, µmol/L | 351 (292–405) | 363 (320–418) | 357 (303–416) | 345 (309–402) | 315 (268–387) | 0.98 | 0.79 | 0.12 | 0.90 | 0.02 | 0.22 |
| Creatinine, µmol/L | 60.1 (51.3–70.7) | 62.3 (51.9–73.2) | 60.1 (53.0–74.7) | 57.5 (51.7–68.5) | 57.5 (48.6–69.0) | 0.99 | 0.58 | 0.37 | 0.59 | 0.28 | 0.93 |
| TC, mmol/L | 5.02 (4.37–5.69) | 4.94 (4.27–5.65) | 5.09 (4.54–5.79) | 4.91 (4.22–5.60) | 4.86 (4.40–5.66) | 0.97a | 0.97a | 0.98a | 0.69a | 0.73a | 1.00a |
| TG, mmol/L | 1.43 (1.06–1.95) | 1.35 (0.80–1.94) | 1.38 (1.02–1.84) | 1.51 (1.09–1.99) | 1.47 (1.11–2.17) | 0.83 | 0.35 | 0.13 | 0.57 | 0.15 | 0.96 |
| DM, % | 52.3 | 7.1 | 20.1 | 100 | 100 | <0.01b | |||||
| Duration of diabetes, yrc | 4 (1–10) | 3 (0–9) | 3.5 (0.9–9.3) | 3 (1–6) | 7 (2–15) | 0.99 | 1.00 | 0.73 | 0.99 | 0.17 | <0.01 |
| Fibrosis stage (3–4), % | 40.5 | 19.1 | 37.6 | 57.4 | 44.3 | <0.01b | |||||
| NAS (5–8), % | 52.9 | 23.8 | 56.4 | 57.4 | 58.2 | <0.01b | |||||
| Anti-diabetes agents | |||||||||||
| Biguanide, % | 17.8 | 2.4 | 5.4 | 29.5 | 40.5 | <0.01b | |||||
| DPP4i, % | 11.5 | 2.4 | 3.4 | 21.3 | 24.1 | <0.01b | |||||
| Sulfonylurea, % | 10.3 | 0 | 0.7 | 8.2 | 35.4 | <0.01b | |||||
| AGI, % | 3.9 | 0 | 0.7 | 4.9 | 11.4 | <0.01b | |||||
| Pioglitazone, % | 3.3 | 0 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 10.1 | 0.14b | |||||
| Glinide, % | 1.5 | 0 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 0.03b | |||||
| GLP-1RA, % | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 0.98b | |||||
| SGLT2i, % | 2.4 | 0 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 3.8 | 0.60b | |||||
| Insulin, % | 7.3 | 0 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 25.3 | <0.01b | |||||
Values are presented as median (interquartile range) or percentage.
To evaluate between-group differences, the Steel-Dwass test or
Tukey’s test was used for continuous variables,
Chi-square test was used for categorical variables.
P<0.05 was considered significant,
Duration of diabetes in patients with DM.
HbA1c, glycosylated hemoglobin; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; BMI, body mass index; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; UA, uric acid; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride; DM, diabetes mellitus; NAS, activity score; DPP4i, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor; AGI, alpha-glucosidase inhibitor; GLP-1RA, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist; SGLT2i, sodium-glucose transport protein 2 inhibitor.