Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The novel cutoff points for the FIB4 index categorized by age increase the diagnostic accuracy in NAFLD: a multi-center study

  • Original Article—Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Tract
  • Published:
Journal of Gastroenterology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 25 May 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Background

The FIB4 index is clinically useful, but because its formula includes age, the appropriate cutoff point may differ by age group. Here, new FIB4 index cutoff points were validated using cohort data from 14 hepatology centers in Japan.

Methods

The FIB4 index was determined in biopsy-confirmed NAFLD patients (n = 1050) who were divided into four groups: ≤ 49, 50–59, 60–69, and ≥ 70 years. ROC analysis predicted advanced fibrosis in each age group; low and high cutoff points were defined by a sensitivity and specificity of 90%. The new and conventional cutoffs were compared for detecting advanced fibrosis.

Results

The modified low and high cutoff points were 1.05 and 1.21 in ≤ 49 years, 1.24 and 1.96 in 50–59 years, 1.88 and 3.24 in 60–69 years, and 1.95 and 4.56 in ≥ 70 years. In ≥ 60 years, the false-negative rate was increased using the modified high cutoff point, and the high cutoff point was better with the conventional cutoff point. The new proposed low and high cutoff points are 1.05 and 1.21 in ≤ 49 years, 1.24 and 1.96 in 50–59 years, 1.88 and 2.67 in 60–69 years, and 1.95 and 2.67 in ≥ 70 years; these cutoff points improved the accuracy of advanced fibrosis diagnosis.

Conclusions

FIB4 index cutoff points for predicting advanced fibrosis in NAFLD increased with age. Cutoff points modified by age improved the diagnostic accuracy of estimations of advanced liver fibrosis using the FIB4 index.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 25 May 2018

    The coauthor Masashi Yoneda’s affiliation has been incorrectly published in the original publication of the article. The correct affiliation is provided in this correction.

References

  1. Younossi ZM, Koenig AB, Abdelatif D, et al. Global epidemiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease—meta-analytic assessment of prevalence, incidence, and outcomes. Hepatology. 2016;64:73–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Matteoni CA, Younossi ZM, Gramlich T, et al. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a spectrum of clinical and pathological severity. Gastroenterology. 1999;116:1413–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rafiq N, Bai C, Fang Y, et al. Long-term follow-up of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009;7(2):234–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Angulo P, Kleiner DE, Dam-Larsen S, et al. Liver fibrosis, but no other histologic features, is associated with long-term outcomes of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Gastroenterology. 2015;149:389–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ekstedt M, Hagström H, Nasr P, et al. Fibrosis stage is the strongest predictor for disease-specific mortality in NAFLD after up to 33 years of follow-up. Hepatology. 2015;61:1547–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Myers RP, Fong A, Shaheen AA. Utilization rates, complications and costs of percutaneous liver biopsy: a population-based study including 4275 biopsies. Liver Int. 2008;28:705–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. McPherson S, Stewart SF, Henderson E, et al. Simple non-invasive fibrosis scoring systems can reliably exclude advanced fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Gut. 2010;59:1265–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Angulo P, Hui JM, Marchesini G, et al. The NAFLD fibrosis score: a noninvasive system that identifies liver fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. Hepatology. 2007;45:846–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Chalasani N, Younossi Z, Lavine JE, et al. The diagnosis and management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: practice guidance from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Hepatology. 2018;67:328–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sumida Y, Yoneda M, Hyogo H, et al. Validation of the FIB4 index in a Japanese nonalcoholic fatty liver disease population. BMC Gastroenterol. 2012;12:2.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Sterling RK, Lissen E, Clumeck N, et al. Development of a simple noninvasive index to predict significant fibrosis in patients with HIV/HCV coinfection. Hepatology. 2006;43:1317–25.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Shah AG, Lydecker A, Murray K, et al. Nash Clinical Research Network. Comparison of noninvasive markers of fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009;7:1104–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kleiner DE, Brunt EM, Van Natta M, et al. Design and validation of a histological scoring system for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology. 2005;41:1313–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Japanese Society for the Study of Obesity. New criteria of obesity in Japanese. J Jpn Soc Study Obes. 2000;6:18–28.

    Google Scholar 

  15. American Diabetes Association. Report of the expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care. 1997;20:1183–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Brunt EM, Janney CG, Di Bisceglie AM, et al. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a proposal for grading and staging the histological lesions. Am J Gastroenterol. 1999;94:2467–74.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Sumida Y, Nakajima A, Itoh Y. Limitations of liver biopsy and non-invasive diagnostic tests for the diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20:475–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Angulo P, Bugianesi E, Bjornsson ES, et al. Simple noninvasive systems predict long-term outcomes of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Gastroenterology. 2013;145:782–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). EASL-EASD-EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Hepatol. 2016;64:1388–402.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Nagai Y, Metter EJ, Earley CJ, et al. Increased carotid artery intimal- medial thickness in asymptomatic older subjects with exercise-induced myocardial ischemia. Circulation. 1998;98:1504–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. McPherson S, Hardy T, Dufour JF, et al. Age as a confounding factor for the accurate non-invasive diagnosis of advanced NAFLD fibrosis. Am J Gastroenterol. 2017;112:740–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We have no funds and grants in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Consortia

Contributions

HI and SY: concept, design and writing of article. ST, MY, HH, HF, YS, MY, HT, TN, YS, KM, KK, KI: Date Procedures. KS, SI: Pathologist. MO, YE, TK, MY, AN, KC, TS, TS, KF, TO: Obserever. YI: Director of this study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoshio Sumida.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors do not have any financial of conflicts.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 20 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ishiba, H., Sumida, Y., Tanaka, S. et al. The novel cutoff points for the FIB4 index categorized by age increase the diagnostic accuracy in NAFLD: a multi-center study. J Gastroenterol 53, 1216–1224 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-018-1474-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-018-1474-y

Keywords

Navigation