Table 2.
Noninvasive Blood Biomarkers for the Prediction of Steatosis
| Blood markers/Indices | Components or equations | AUROC/Cutoffs | Study population (no. of participants)/diagnostic tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fatty liver index [42] | e0.953×ln(TG)+0.139×BMI+0.718×ln(GGT)+0.053×WC−15.745/[1+e0.953×ln(TG)+0.139×BMI+0.718×ln(GGT)+0.053×WC−15.745]×100 | 0.79–0.85 Low cutoff: <30 (to rule out NAFLD) High cutoff: ≥60 |
Italian (n=496)/US -Alcohol intake was not associated with fatty liver index |
| Hepatic steatosis index [46] | 8×(ALT/AST ratio)+BMI (+2, if female; +2, if DM) | 0.72–0.82 Cutoffs: <30 to rule out (sensitivity 92.5%) : >36 to detect (specificity 92.4%) |
Korean (n=10,724)/US -Developed by using routine health check-up data from a university hospital healthcare center |
| Lipid accumulation product (LAP) [44,47] | [WC (cm)–65 (male) or –58 (female)]×[TG (mmol/L)] | 0.72–0.83 Cutoffs: ln(LAP): 4.14–4.45 |
NHANES III (development, n=9,180), Italian (evaluation, n=588)/US (in evaluation study) -Originally developed as an index of cardiometabolic risk. |
| NAFLD liver fat score [43] | –2.89+1.18×MS (yes: 1, no: 0)+0.45×T2DM (yes: 2, No: 0)+0.15×fasting insulin in mU/L+0.04×fasting AST in U/L–0.94×AST/ALT | 0.78–0.87 Cutoff: −0.640 (86% sensitive, 71% specific) |
Finnish (n=470)/1H-MRS |
| NAFL screening score [48] | Age, FPG, BMI, TG, ALT/AST, uric acid | 0.83–0.86 Cutoffs: >32 (male) or >29 (female) |
Chinese (n=48,489)/US -Developed by using health check-up data from two hospitals |
| SteatoTest [45] | ALT, ≥2-macroglobulin, apolipoprotein A1, haptoglobin, total bilirubin, GGT, total cholesterol, TG, glucose, age, gender, and BMI | 0.72–0.86 Cutoffs: 0.3 (91% sensitivity) : 0.70 (89% specificity) |
Caucasians (n=2,272)/liver biopsy -Not specific for NAFLD -Model equation was not presented. |
AUROC, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; TG, triglyceride; BMI, body mass index; GGT, γ-glutamyltransferase; WC, waist circumference; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; US, ultrasonography; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; DM, diabetes mellitus; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; NHANES III, the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; MS, metabolic syndrome; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus; 1H-MRS, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy; NAFL, nonalcoholic fatty liver; FPG, fasting plasma glucose.