Table 7.
Characteristics by diagnosis* and NAS
| No steatohepatitis | Definite steatohepatitis | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAS≤4 (n=194) |
NAS≥5 (n=14) |
P† | NAS≤4 (n=136) |
NAS≥5 (n=407) |
P† | |
| Age at biopsy (mean) | 47.3 | 41.9 | 0.10 | 49.3 | 48.5 | 0.46 |
| Gender (% female) | 55.1 | 57.1 | 0.89 | 57.4 | 69.3 | 0.01 |
| Race (% Caucasian) | 83.0 | 92.3 | 0.83 | 83.9 | 84.6 | 0.57 |
| Hispanic ethnicity (%) | 13.4 | 14.3 | 1.00 | 11.0 | 14.7 | 0.28 |
| BMI (kg/m2) (mean) | 33.8 | 34.8 | 0.53 | 33.9 | 34.6 | 0.33 |
| Diabetes (% with) | 19.6 | 0.0 | 0.08 | 28.7 | 32.2 | 0.44 |
| ALT (U/L)‡ (median) | 51.0 | 57.0 | 0.14 | 65.0 | 82.0 | 0.002 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dL)‡ (median) | 146 | 130 | 0.95 | 151 | 164 | 0.05 |
| Glucose (mg/dL)‡ (median) | 95.5 | 97.0 | 0.82 | 97.0 | 96.0 | 0.55 |
| Insulin (µU/mL)‡ (median) | 15.8 | 13.8 | 0.26 | 18.0 | 22.0 | 0.13 |
| HOMA-IR‡ (median) | 3.6 | 3.3 | 0.25 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 0.29 |
| QUICKI‡ (mean) | 0.318 | 0.328 | 0.35 | 0.311 | 0.305 | 0.17 |
| ANA positive (%)‡ | 27.3 | 0.0 | 0.11 | 25.8 | 23.2 | 0.61 |
| Steatosis grade (%) | ||||||
| 0 - <5% | 11.9 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 0.7 | ||
| 1 - 5–33% | 54.6 | 0.0 | n/a | 69.1 | 19.9 | n/a |
| 2 - 34–66% | 24.2 | 14.3 | 27.2 | 40.3 | ||
| 3 - > 66% | 9.3 | 78.6 | 0.0 | 39.1 | ||
| Steatosis location (%) | ||||||
| 0 – Zone 3 | 51.6 | 35.7 | 46.3 | 33.7 | ||
| 1 – Zone 1 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 0.18 | 0.0 | 0.5 | <0.0001 |
| 2 - Azonal | 25.3 | 14.3 | 36.0 | 22.4 | ||
| 3 – Panancinar | 19.6 | 50.0 | 17.7 | 43.5 | ||
| Lobular inflammation (%) | n/a | n/a | ||||
| 0 - none | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| 1 - <2 | 86.1 | 0.0 | 86.8 | 17.7 | ||
| 2 - 2–4 | 12.4 | 85.7 | 13.2 | 59.7 | ||
| 3 - >4 | 0.0 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 22.6 | ||
| Chronic portal inflammation (%) | ||||||
| 0 - none | 28.9 | 26.6 | 0.85 | 12.5 | 10.1 | 0.26 |
| 1 - mild | 60.3 | 57.1 | 68.4 | 64.1 | ||
| 2 - >mild | 10.8 | 14.3 | 19.1 | 25.8 | ||
| Ballooning (%) | n/a | n/a | ||||
| 0 - none | 96.4 | 85.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | ||
| 1 - few | 2.6 | 7.1 | 58.8 | 23.1 | ||
| 2 - many | 1.0 | 7.1 | 40.4 | 76.7 | ||
| Fibrosis (%) | 0.37 | 0.005 | ||||
| 0- none | 73.2 | 71.4 | 14.2 | 5.0 | ||
| 1a | 7.4 | 21.4 | 14.9 | 13.6 | ||
| 1b | 1.1 | 0.0 | 18.7 | 17.1 | ||
| 1c | 9.5 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | ||
| 2 | 3.7 | 0.0 | 19.4 | 29.5 | ||
| 3 - bridging | 5.3 | 7.1 | 32.1 | 34.7 | ||
Diagnoses of borderline steatohepatitis and cirrhosis were excluded. Values are means for age, BMI, and QUICKI, medians for laboratory measures and HOMA-IR, and % for categorical variables.
P-values derived from chi-square tests for categorical variables (Fisher’s Exact test when expected numbers were small), from ANOVA for age at biopsy and BMI, and from the Kruskal-Wallis Test for laboratory measures. P-values for components of the NAS (steatosis amount, lobular inflammation, and ballooning) were not included.
Only laboratory values collected within 6 months of the liver biopsy were included. N=462 for ALT and glucose measurements; N=465 for triglycerides; N=454 for insulin and HOMA-IR measurements; N=495 for ANA. HOMA-IR is the homeostasis model assessment method for insulin resistance, calculated as (fasting insulin (µU/mL)*fasting glucose (mmol/L))/22.5. QUICKI is calculated as: 1/log(insulin µU/mL*glucose mg/dL).