Table 4. Independent-samples t-test evaluation of the capacity of the LSM and AFC in distinguishing early stages of liver fibrosis (F1 and F2).

Evaluation indices	LSM	AFC
t-statistic	-2.722**	4.652***
Significance (2-tailed)	0.008	0.000
Mean difference	-1.271	1.418

Notes: between-group differences evaluated using independent-samples t-test;

** the significance level of the statistics P < 0.01.

*** the significance level of the statistics P < 0.001.