Alcoholic liver disease/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease index

• DOI: 10.1097/meg.0b013e32835f0786
• Publication Date: 2013-02-20T10:02:54Z
• Authors: Ivana Cerović; Dušan Mladenović; Rada Ješić; Tamara Naumović; Miloš Branković; Danijela Vučević; Vuk Aleksić; Tatjana Radosavlj...
• Keywords: Adult; Erythrocyte Indices; Male; Chi-Square Distribution; Biopsy; Alanine Transaminase; Clinical Enzyme Tests; Middle Aged; Body Mass Index; Decision Support Techniques; 3. Good health; Diagnosis, Differential; Fatty Liver; 03 medical and health sciences; Logistic Models; 0302 clinical medicine; Liver; Humans; Female; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Biomarkers; Aged; Fatty Liver, Alcoholic

The alcoholic liver disease (ALD)/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (ANI) scoring system was constructed as a response to a clinical need for avoiding the risks of liver biopsy in diagnosing the etiology of fatty liver disease. The aim of this study was to test the reliability of ANI as a noninvasive method to distinguish ALD from NAFLD.One hundred and thirty-five patients were classified into two groups, ALD and NAFLD, according to the pathohistological results. Parameters for ANI are aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, mean corpuscular volume, BMI, and sex. ANI was calculated using an online calculator, official site of Mayo Clinic.ANI was significantly higher in patients with ALD than NAFLD (P<0.01). The cutoff point of ANI is -0.66. ANI greater than -0.66 indicates ALD, whereas ANI less than -0.66 yields a higher probability of NAFLD with high specificity (96.7%) and sensitivity (84.1%). The mean corpuscular volume and aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio were higher, whereas BMI was lower in patients with ALD than in NAFLD (P<0.01).The ANI scoring system may be used for the estimation of alcoholic origin of steatosis/steatohepatitis and may help in triaging patients for liver biopsy. ANI less than -0.66 indicates NAFLD, whereas ANI greater than -0.66 confirms the alcoholic etiology, but does not exclude the contribution of associated factors toward the development of fatty liver in a Serbian population.