Table 2. Demographic and laboratory characteristics of total cohort, training group and validation group.
Values are median (range) or n (%).
| Variable | Total cohort (n = 158) | Training group (n = 97) | Validation group (n = 61) | p training vs. validation group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (yrs) | 60 (19–83) | 62 (19–83) | 57 (26–82) | 0.89 |
| Men (n; %) | 117 (74%) | 69 (71%) | 48(78%) | 0.02*¶ |
| Diabetes (%) | 82 (52%) | 58(60%) | 24 (41%) | 0.89 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 28.7 (20.2–49.5) | 28.2 (20.4–49.5) | 29 (20.2–42.5) | 0.87 |
| Overweight | 76 (48%) | 47 (48%) | 29 (47%) | 0.87 |
| Obese | 62 (39%) | 39 (40%) | 23 (38%) | 0.85 |
| AST (U/L) | 38 (10–153) | 41 (10–120) | 14 (21–153) | 0.62 |
| ALT(U/L) | 58 (17–198) | 57 (17–198) | 60 (21–181) | 0.48 |
| AST/ALT ratio | 0.7 (0.3–1.9) | 0.8 (0.3–1.9) | 0.7 (0.3–1.9) | 0.77 |
| GGT (U/L) | 63 (12–504) | 58 (12–492) | 66 (17–504) | 0.42 |
| ALP (U/L) | 100 (30–470) | 94 (30–470) | 112 (30–341) | 0.87 |
| Bilirubin (mg/dL) | 11 (3–48) | 11 (3–48) | 11 (5–36) | 0.29 |
| Albumin (g/dL) | 4.1 (2.9–4.9) | 4.0 (3.4–4.9) | 4.1 (2.9–4.9) | 0.6 |
| Platelet count (x109/L) | 221 (85–476) | 219 (85–476) | 223 (133–369) | 0.89 |
| Prothrombin (INR) | 1.0 (0.8–1.3) | 1.0 (0.9–1.2) | 1.0 (0.8–1.3) | 0.96 |
| Ferritin (μg/L) | 192 (5–1804) | 178 (5–1120) | 217 (16–1804) | 0.14 |
| Transferrin (g/L) | 2.3 (1.6–5.2) | 2.3 (1.6–5.2) | 2.3 (1.6–3.5) | 0.28 |
| Transferrin saturation | 0.27 (0.09–0.55) | 0.32 (0.09–0.55) | 0.34 (0.16–0.36) | 0.32 |
| Glucose (mmol/L) | 7.16 (3.8–18) | 6.6 (4.0–18) | 5.8 (3.8–18) | 0.19 |
| Cholesterol (mg/dL) | 187 (93–320) | 183 (93–324) | 181 (94–320) | 0.42 |
| HDL (mg/dL) | 43 (12–174) | 44 (12–120) | 199 (27–174) | 0.76 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dL) | 125 (43–507) | 124 (43–481) | 142 (47–507) | 0.50 |
| HA (μg/L) | 45 (6–795) | 49 (6–356) | 42.5 (7–795) | 0.76 |
| P3NP (μg/L) | 7.7 (2.0–28) | 8.0 (2.0–28) | 6.7 (2.0–24) | 0.58 |
| TIMP 1 (μg/L) | 248 (70–735) | 253 (70–526) | 243 (76–735) | 0.88 |
| Steatosis (grade) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 0.78 |
| Lobular inflammation (grade) | 0 (0–3) | 0 (0–3) | 1 (0–3) | 0.88 |
| Ballooning (grade) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–2) | 0.25 |
| NAS | 2 (1–7) | 2 (1–7) | 2 (1–7) | 0.90 |
| Fibrosis (stage) | 1 (0–4) | 1 (0–4) | 1 (0–4) | 0.89 |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; GGT, gamma glutamyltransferase; ALP, alkaline phosphatase; INR, international normalized ratio; HDL, high density lipoprotein; HA, hyaluronic acid; P3NP, aminoterminal peptide of pro-collagen III; TIMP-1, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1; NAS, NAFLD Activity Score.
*p <0.05
¶Non-significant difference after using the Bonferroni correction for 30 comparisons. This resulted in adjustment of the p-value denoting significant differences from 0.05 to 0.0017.
Variables age, albumin, platelet count, and cholesterol were normally distributed. For these variables comparisons were performed with Student’s t test. The remaining continuous variables were compared with the Mann–Whitney U test. The χ2 test was used to compare categorical variables.