Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Dear editor,
I read with interest the study of Li et al. entitled “The ZJU index is a powerful index for identifying NAFLD in the general Chinese populations”. The authors showed promising AUROC than other currently used NAFLD indices. However, there is a critical mistake in the formula that authors used. In the article, the authors showed visceral adiposity index (VAI) = [WC/39.68 + (1.88 × BMI)] × (TG/1.03) × (1.31/HDL) for males and [WC/36.58 + (1.89 × BMI)] × (TG/0.81) × (1.52/HDL) for females.
However, VAI should be as follows:
VAI = [WC/(39.68 + (1.88 × BMI))] × (TG/1.03) × (1.31/HDL) for males and [WC/(36.58 + (1.89 × BMI))] × (TG/0.81) × (1.52/HDL) for females [1].
This should be clarified clearly; otherwise, it will make following readers wrong analyses which hampered the future science development. Technically, I have another question for the authors that developed the ZJU index [2]. How did they choose the name “ZJU index”? I try to help the readers like me to raise the question. Other NAFLD indices are based on abbreviation, such as fatty liver index (FLI) and hepatic steatosis index (HSI).
I hope the authors will be able to make correction of the formula of VAI.
References
Amato MC, Giordano C, Galia M et al (2010) Visceral adiposity index (VAI): a reliable indicator of visceral fat function associated with cardiometabolic risk. Diabetes Care 33:920–922
Wang J, Xu C, Xun Y et al (2015) ZJU index: a novel model for predicting nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a Chinese population. Sci Rep 5:16494
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Fu, CP. Letter to the editor regarding “The ZJU index is a powerful index for identifying NAFLD in the general Chinese population”. Acta Diabetol 57, 385 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-019-01428-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-019-01428-0