Anthropometric Measures as Predictors of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Adult Asymptomatic Egyptians

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease involving about 25% of the world’s population. Several studies investigated the role of the different anthropometric measures in NAFLD diagnosis. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the different anthropometric measures as non-invasive predictors for the presence of steatosis in a series of NAFLD patients. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a series of adult asymptomatic subjects. NAFLD was diagnosed in 100 cases by ultrasonography for whom controlled attenuation parameters (CAP) examination was done.Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WCir), waist to height ratio (WHtR), lipid accumulation product (LAP) were measured. Also, subcutaneous and preperitoneal fat were measured using abdominal ultrasound.Roc curve analysis was used to detect the optimal cutoff of different models that predict steatosis. Results: BMI, WCir, WHtR, LAP, subcutaneous and preperitoneal fat had good diagnostic performance for predicting hepatic steatosis (AUROC for LAP=1 and approaching 1 in all other anthropometric measures). Conclusion: The clinical anthropometric measures are easy applicable and non-costly promising tools for the prediction of NAFLD in Egyptian patients.