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. 2019;37(1):69-76.
doi: 10.1159/000491428. Epub 2018 Jul 17.

The Pattern of Elevated Liver Function Tests in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Predicts Fibrosis Stage and Metabolic-Associated Comorbidities

Dor Shirin  1 , Noam Peleg  1   2 , Orly Sneh-Arbib  2 , Michal Cohen-Naftaly  2 , Marius Braun  2   3 , Tzipora Shochat  4 , Assaf Issachar  1   2 , Amir Shlomai  5   6   7
Affiliations

The Pattern of Elevated Liver Function Tests in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Predicts Fibrosis Stage and Metabolic-Associated Comorbidities

Dor Shirin et al. Dig Dis. 2019.

Abstract

Background: Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and with abnormal liver function tests (LFTs) most commonly present with elevated hepatocellular enzymes (H pattern), but a subset of patients is found to have elevated cholestatic enzymes (C pattern) or a mixed (M) pattern.

Aims and methods: To determine whether the epidemiologic background and comorbidities, as well as the degree of liver fibrosis, differ between NAFLD patients with different patterns of elevated LFTs by retrospectively analyzing data of 106 patients with a biopsy-proven diagnosis of NAFLD. The pattern of elevated LFTs was determined by adopting the "R-Ratio" formula commonly used for drug-induced liver injury.

Results: Advanced fibrosis (F > 2) was found in 15 out of 48 (31.3%) patients with a C pattern of elevated LFTs as compared to 2 out of 44 (4.5%) in M patients and 2 out of 11 (18.2%) in H patients (p = 0.004). Group C patients are older and also had a higher prevalence of diabetes, a higher mean hemoglobin A1c, and a higher prevalence of hypertension, as well as a trend for a higher prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia.

Conclusions: Using a simple formula incorporating routine LFTs can help to categorize NAFLD patients as low or high risk for advanced fibrosis stage and metabolic-associated comorbidities.

Keywords: Cholestasis; Liver steatosis; Metabolic Syndrome.

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