A non-invasive method for estimating the severity of liver steatosis and the risk of fibrosis in non-obese type 2 diabetes patients with NAFLD.

CONTEXT

Prognostic considerations include assessing the risk of liver fibrosis in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

OBJECTIVES

This study evaluates the use of hematologic and metabolic parameters regarding liver steatosis and fibrosis scores (FLI and Fib-4) in non-obese type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2DM) patients with NAFLD.

METHODS

Subjects underwent abdominal ultrasound examinations, and FLI and Fib-4 scores were calculated to evaluate liver steatosis and the risk of liver fibrosis non-invasively: 61 non-obese NAFLD subjects with t2DM were included in the cohort study and were divided into 2 groups depending on the t2DM treatment regimen.

RESULTS

Fib-4 and WBC count demonstrated a significant inverse correlation (OR = 0.509, p = 0.007). WBC count had an R2 of 0.237, indicating that this marker could account for up to 23.7% of a variation in Fib-4. Fib-4 and FFA had positive correlation which did not achieve statistically significant prediction (OR=7.122, p=0.062). Additionally, a significant prediction of HbA1c (OR=1.536, p=0.016) and haemoglobin (OR=1.071, p=0.020) for FLI was revealed.

CONCLUSION

HbA1c and other haematological and metabolic parameters, such as haemoglobin and WBC, may be another non-invasive tool for determining whether non-obese NAFLD patients with t2DM are at risk of developing liver steatosis and fibrosis.