Establishment and validation of a nomogram that predicts the risk of type 2 diabetes in obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a longitudinal observational study.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to establish and validate a nomogram for better assessment of the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) based on independent predictors.

METHODS

Of 1820 eligible participants from the NAGALA cohort enrolled in the study. Multivariate Cox regression was employed to construct the nomogram. The performance was assessed by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), C-index, calibration curve, decision curve analysis, and Kaplan-Meier analysis.

RESULTS

Five predictors were selected from 17 variables. The AUC values at different time points all indicated that the model constructed with these five predictors had good predictive power. Decision curves indicated that the model could be applied to clinical applications.

CONCLUSIONS

We established and validated a reasonable, economical nomogram for predicting the risk of T2D in obese NAFLD patients. This simple clinical tool can help with risk stratification and thus contribute to the development of effective prevention programs against T2D in obese patients with NAFLD.