Accuracy of ultrasound to identify chronic liver disease

Table 4 Characteristics of included studies

Author	Country	Sample	Males (%)	Mean age in years (range)	Prevalence of disease (%)	Aetiology (largest disease type)	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria	Severity of disease
Joseph et al[17]	UK	50	NR	NR (NR)	62	Mixed (alcohol)	Abnormal LFT, clinical suspicion	NR	NR
Cioni et al[32]	Italy	117	77 (66)	47 (NR)	50	NR	Raised ALT	Decompensation, refused biopsy	Mild
Ladenheim et al [26]	USA	50	NR	NR (NR)	16	NR	NR	NR	NR
Ferral et al[35]	Mexico	70	28 (40)	49 (18-84)	46	Unclear	Abnormal LFT, non-specific clinically	Did not have biopsy (reasons not specified)	NR
Hultcrantz et al[28]	Sweden	83	47 (57)	41 (NR)	17	Mixed (“fatty” 54%)	Asymptomatic, raised AST/ALT	Signs of liver disease	Mild
Colli et al[29]	Italy	52	30 (58)	52 (22-65)	31	Viral	HCV, Child-Pugh class “A”	Decompensation, PHT	Mild
Gaiani et al[20]	Italy	212	128 (60)	49 (15-71)	22	Mixed (HCV 57%)	Raised AST, no prev. cirrhosis	Decompensation, PHT, previous history cirrhosis	Mild
Xu et al[22]	China	66	42 (64)	39 (NR)	36	Viral	HBV	NR	NR
Mathiesen et al[27]	Sweden	165	110 (67)	48 (22-77)	9	Mixed (“fatty” 40%)	Asymptomatic, raised AST/ALT	Decompensation	Mild
Colli et al[18]	Italy	300	234 (78)	49 (17-78)	36	Mixed (HCV 41%)	Asymptomatic, raised AST/ALT	Heart failure, atrial fibrillation	Mild
Nishiura et al[25]	Japan	103	60 (58)	51 (38-75)	21	Mixed (viral 88%)	Raised AST, no prev. cirrhosis	Decompensation, previous history cirrhosis	Mild
Colli et al[19]	Italy	176	96 (55)	54 (NR)	38	Viral	HCV, raised AST,	Decompensation, biopsy contra-indicated	Mild
							Child-Pugh “A”
Vigano et al[33]	Italy	108	55 (51)	53 (NR)	34	Viral	HCV	NR	NR
D’Onofrio et al[31]	Italy	105	73 (70)	47 (NR)	27	Viral	Asymptomatic viral hepatitis, raised AST/ALT	NR	Mild
Schneider et al[30]	Germany	119	66 (55)	45 (20-78)	14	Viral	HCV	NR	NR
Shen et al[16]	China	324	272 (84)	36 (18-60)	9	Viral	HCV,HBV, raised ALT	Decompensation, HIV,	Mild
								other causes of CLD
Liu et al[21]	Taiwan	503	271 (54)	52 (NR)	33	Viral	HCV	HBV, HIV, NASH, alcohol abuse, refused biopsy or contra-indicated	NR
Iliopoulos et al[23]	Greece	72	45 (63)	57 (NR)	39	Viral	Unclear	Unclear	NR
Paggi et al[24]	Italy	430	237 (55)	53 (25-71)	37	Viral	HCV	HBV, HIV, decompensation	Mild
Wang et al[39]	Taiwan	320	199 (62)	51 (NR)	33	Viral	HBV, HCV	HCC	NR
Gaia et al[34]	Italy	61	41 (67)	NR	36	Viral (62%)/NASH (38%)	NR	NR	NR

LFT: Liver function test; NR: Not reported; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; PHT: Portal hypertension; CLD: Chronic liver disease; HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus; NASH: Non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.