Table 1.
Baseline clinical and biochemical characteristics and liver histology features in patients with fibrotic MASH and non-fibrotic MASH.
| Characteristics | All (n = 147) | Non-fibrotic MASH (n = 104) | Fibrotic MASH (n = 43) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||||
| Age (years) | 40.36 ± 12.28 | 38.68 ± 11.64 | 44.42 ± 12.96 | 0.010 |
| Male sex (n, %) | 108 (73.5%) | 81 (77.9%) | 27 (62.8%) | 0.059 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 28.83 ± 4.31 | 28.99 ± 4.43 | 28.43 ± 4.04 | 0.477 |
| Waist circumference (cm) | 97.03 ± 8.15 | 97.22 ± 7.81 | 96.57 ± 9.01 | 0.668 |
| WHR | 0.95 ± 0.05 | 0.95 ± 0.05 | 0.96 ± 0.05 | 0.393 |
| Smoking history (non/former/current; n, %) | 88/12/37 (64.2%/8.8%/27.0%) |
60/9/28 (61.9%/9.3%/28.9%) |
28/3/9 (70.0%/7.5%/22.5%) |
0.733 |
| Concomitant diseases | ||||
| Type 2 diabetes (n, %) | 45 (30.6%) | 24 (23.1%) | 21 (48.8%) | 0.002 |
| Hypertension (n, %) | 31 (21.1%) | 19 (18.3%) | 12 (27.9%) | 0.193 |
| Respiratory disease (n, %) | 13 (8.8%) | 11 (10.6%) | 2 (4.7%) | 0.405 |
| Blood parameters | ||||
| AST (IU/L) | 42 (27–67) | 37 (25–51) | 69 (34–96) | <0.001 |
| ALT (IU/L) | 65 (36–106) | 57 (33–98) | 97 (55–120) | 0.007 |
| GGT (IU/L) | 51 (33–96) | 48 (27–73) | 74 (47–125) | 0.002 |
| Platelet count (×109/L) | 248.29 ± 62.02 | 255.73 ± 56.29 | 230.47 ± 71.58 | 0.024 |
| Fibroscan data | ||||
| LSM (kPa) | 7.30 (6.00–9.73) | 6.85 (5.40–8.75) | 9.90 (7.40–13.55) | <0.001 |
| CAP (dB/m) | 308.50 ± 44.06 | 305.89 ± 46.76 | 317.12 ± 35.79 | 0.164 |
| Non-invasive models | ||||
| eNO (ppb) | 10.47 ± 3.99 | 9.43 ± 3.22 | 12.98 ± 4.58 | <0.001 |
| FAST | 0.44 (0.22–0.66) | 0.40 (0.19–0.55) | 0.69 (0.40–0.78) | <0.001 |
| Agile 3+ | 0.12 (0.05–0.31) | 0.09 (0.04–0.19) | 0.36 (0.10–0.69) | <0.001 |
| FIB-4 | 0.80 (0.59–1.24) | 0.74 (0.54–1.03) | 1.39 (0.72–2.29) | <0.001 |
| Histological liver characteristics | ||||
| Steatosis grade (n, %) | ||||
| 1 | 46 (31.3%) | 36 (34.6%) | 10 (23.3%) | 0.203 |
| 2 | 63 (42.9%) | 45 (43.3%) | 18 (41.9%) | |
| 3 | 38 (25.9%) | 23 (22.1%) | 15 (34.9%) | |
| Ballooning grade (n, %) | ||||
| 0 | 12 (8.2%) | 12 (11.5%) | 0 | 0.001 |
| 1 | 64 (43.5%) | 51 (49.0%) | 13 (30.2%) | |
| 2 | 71 (48.3%) | 41 (39.4%) | 30 (69.8%) | |
| Lobular inflammation grade (n, %) | ||||
| 0 | 6 (4.1%) | 6 (5.8%) | 0 | <0.001 |
| 1 | 68 (46.3%) | 61 (58.7%) | 7 (16.3%) | |
| 2 | 70 (47.6%) | 37 (35.6%) | 33 (76.7%) | |
| 3 | 3 (2.0%) | 0 | 3 (7.0%) | |
| Histologic NAS | 4.82 ± 1.51 | 4.44 ± 1.46 | 5.72 ± 1.22 | <0.001 |
| Fibrosis stage (n, %) | ||||
| 0 | 28 (19.0%) | 28 (26.9%) | 0 | <0.001 |
| 1 | 73 (49.7%) | 73 (70.2%) | 0 | |
| 2 | 31 (21.1%) | 3 (2.9%) | 28 (65.1%) | |
| 3 | 11 (7.5%) | 0 | 11 (25.6%) | |
| 4 | 4 (2.7%) | 0 | 4 (9.3%) |
Data are medians (IQR), n (%), or means ± SD, unless otherwise specified.
Due to incomplete questionnaires for some subjects, information on smoking history was included in a sample size of only n = 137.
The sample size for FAST, Agile 3+ was n = 146, due to the absence of LSM data for one patient.
Respiratory disease included rhinitis, obstructive sleep apnoea–hypopnoea syndrome, bronchitis, emphysema, or pulmonary nodule.
Bold in column p-value represents indicators that are statistically significantly different between the two populations (non-fibrotic MASH and fibrotic MASH).