Table 1. Clinical and serological characteristics of the control and patient population.
| Controls | Not NASH | NASH | P value* | |
| Number (n) | 21 | 48 | 65 | |
| Age (years) | 44.8±9.0 | 50.4±13.6 | 51.4±12.8 | 0.381 |
| Gender (male; female) | 14;7 | 26;22 | 36;29 | 0.328 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 21.9±2.6 | 27.9±5.3 | 29.1±5.1 | 0.046 |
| Visceral fat area (cm2) | 141.1±34.9 | 151.4±40.4 | 0.171 | |
| Subcutaneous fat area (cm2) | 191.3±54.1 | 201.9±58.1 | 0.173 | |
| Fasting blood sugar (mg/dl) | 84.2±10.1 | 101.2±25.1 | 106.2±29.4 | 0.301 |
| AST (IU/l) | 23.8±4.8 | 40.1±16.1 | 41.5±17.1 | 0.284 |
| ALT (IU/l) | 22.8±6.2 | 49.3±27.2 | 54.3±26.9 | 0.212 |
| C-reactive protein (mg/l) | 0.27±0.21 | 0.73±0.47 | 1.35±0.94 | 0.011 |
| HOMA-IR | 0.96±0.17 | 2.61±1.39 | 3.66±2.01 | 0.009 |
| Dyslipidemia (%) | 0 | 17 (35.1) | 23 (47.9) | 0.052 |
| Hypertension (%) | 0 | 19 (39.5) | 20 (41.5) | 0.522 |
| Steatosis grade | 0.003 | |||
| 5–33% | 22 | 23 | ||
| 33–66% | 19 | 31 | ||
| >66% | 7 | 11 | ||
| Lobular inflammation | 7 x 10−12 | |||
| None | 15 | 0 | ||
| <2 foci per 200x field | 23 | 31 | ||
| 2–4 foci per 200x field | 8 | 22 | ||
| >4 foci per 200x field | 2 | 12 | ||
| Liver cell ballooning | 3 x 10−16 | |||
| None | 30 | 0 | ||
| Few balloon cells | 16 | 47 | ||
| Many balloon cells | 2 | 18 | ||
| Fibrosis stage | 3 x 10−16 | |||
| None | 21 | 0 | ||
| Perisinusoidal or periportal | 23 | 38 | ||
| Perisinusoidal and portal/periportal | 4 | 20 | ||
| Bridging fibrosis | 0 | 5 | ||
| Cirrhosis | 0 | 2 |
Numbers represent the mean ± SD. Abbreviations: AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model for the assessment of insulin resistance. P values correspond to the comparison of the three subjects groups (not NASH, borderline NASH and definite NASH) using the Kruskal–Wallis tests for continuous factors.