Table 1.
General characteristics, liver stiffness and indices of liver fibrosis in a group of 60 adults selected according to the presence/extent of liver steatosis by USG. p value was assessed by ANOVA followed by Fisher’s LSD Multiple-Comparison test. * p < 0.05 vs. Ctrl; & p < 0.05 vs. MLSt.
| Normal Liver/Mild Steatosis (Ctrl) |
Moderate Liver Steatosis (MLSt) |
Severe Liver Steatosis(SLSt) | p (ANOVA) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects | ||||
| Number (%) | 40 (66.7%) | 11 (18.3%) | 9 (15%) | - |
| Age (years) | 51.7 ± 1.6 | 52.9 ± 3.0 | 57.9 ± 4.3 | 0.25 |
| Males n. (%) | 20 (50%) | 5 (33%) | 6 (67%) | - |
| BMI (Kg/m2) | 26.7 ± 0.7 | 32.4 ± 1.4 * | 34.3 ± 1.4 * | 0.0000005 |
| N. normal weight subjects (%) | 14 (35%) | 0 | 0 | - |
| N. of overweightsubjects (%) | 20 (50%) | 3 (27.3%) | 1 (11.1%) * | - |
| N. of obese subjects (%) | 6 (15%) | 8 (72.7%) * | 8 (88.9%) * | - |
| Serum Biomarkers | ||||
| Total bilirubin (mg/dL) | 0.6 ± 0.05 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.9 |
| AST (U/L) | 22.0 ± 1.7 | 24.2 ± 3.2 | 26.8 ± 3.5 | 0.4 |
| ALT (U/L) | 34.1 ± 3.7 | 42.9 ± 6.9 | 38.9 ± 7.6 | 0.5 |
| GGT (U/L) | 33.5 ± 6.8 | 42.8 ± 12.7 | 54.6 ± 14.0 | 0.3 |
| Platelets (×103/µL) | 224 ± 8 | 249 ± 16 | 223 ± 17 | 0.3 |
| Total cholesterol (mg/dL) | 197.7 ± 8.8 | 202.8 ± 19.0 | 178.0 ± 14.0 | 0.4 |
| HDL cholesterol | 58.2 ± 4.7 | 39.8 ± 10 | 55.8 ± 7.5 | 0.2 |
| LDL cholesterol | 118.5 ± 7.6 | 124.8 ± 16.3 | 105.3 ± 12.2 | 0.5 |
| Triglycerides | 105.3 ± 13.0 | 213 ± 27.8 * | 132.1 ± 20.9 & | 0.006 |
| Grading of Fibrosis | ||||
| ARFI-SWE | ||||
| Shear wave velocity (m/s) | 1.32 ± 0.04 | 1.52 ± 0.08 * | 1.58 ± 0.09 * | 0.01 |
| F1 n. (%) | 37 | 7 | 6 | - |
| F2 n. (%) | 2 | 3 | 1 | - |
| F3 n. (%) | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| F4 n. (%) | 0 | 0 | 1 | - |
| APRI | 0.26 ± 0.02 | 0.26 ± 0.04 | 0.32 ± 0.04 | 0.4 |
| FIB-4 | 0.92 ± 0.06 | 0.85 ± 0.12 | 1.2 ± 0.13 | 0.12 |