Identification of individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by the diagnostic criteria for the metabolic syndrome

Table 2 The role of the criteria of the metabolic syndrome in detecting or diagnosing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in obese or non-obese population

	Men				Women
Sensitivity 5 criteria of the metabolic syndrome	Total %	Obese %	Non-obese %	P value	Total %	Obese %	Non-obese %	P value
Increased abdominal circumference	31.40	55.30	5.80	< 0.001	62.10	87.60	36.30	< 0.001
Elevated fasting glucose level	49.10	52.10	45.90	0.008	36.80	42.20	31.30	0.013
Elevated blood pressure	34.70	44.10	24.60	< 0.001	31.90	41.50	22.30	< 0.001
Decreased HDL cholesterol level	44.10	49.10	38.80	< 0.001	50.40	56.60	44.10	0.006
Elevated triglyceride level	35.20	41.00	28.90	< 0.001	17.90	20.50	15.20	0.15
Elevated ALT (ALT > 30 IU/L)	47.90	59.20	35.80	< 0.001	17.70	24.00	11.30	< 0.001
MS defined by rNCEP-ATP III	33.20	48.60	16.80	< 0.001	32.50	45.00	19.90	< 0.001
MS defined by IDF	21.00	38.10	2.70	< 0.001	29.60	43.40	15.60	< 0.001
At least 1 criterion	84.80	92.30	76.80	< 0.001	86.60	96.10	77.00	< 0.001
At least 2 criteria	61.00	74.20	46.90	< 0.001	61.10	77.50	44.50	< 0.001
At least 1 criterion or elevated ALT	90.40	96.20	84.20	< 0.001	87.40	96.90	79.70	< 0.001
Specificity
5 criteria of the metabolic syndrome
Increased abdominal circumference	94.80	64.50	99.00	< 0.001	89.60	33.10	93.00	< 0.001
Elevated fasting glucose level	73.40	57.70	75.50	< 0.001	90.90	78.00	91.70	< 0.001
Elevated blood pressure	83.60	68.80	85.70	< 0.001	92.30	74.40	93.40	< 0.001
Decreased HDL cholesterol level	76.90	62.20	78.90	< 0.001	80.30	61.00	81.50	< 0.001
Elevated triglyceride level	89.70	81.70	90.80	< 0.001	98.10	93.40	98.40	< 0.001
Elevated ALT (ALT > 30 IU/L)	90.60	79.60	92.10	< 0.001	98.00	94.80	98.20	< 0.001
MS defined by rNCEP-ATP III	93.60	77.30	95.90	< 0.001	97.50	81.00	98.50	< 0.001
MS defined by IDF	97.80	84.50	99.70	< 0.001	98.10	83.60	99.00	< 0.001
At least 1 criterion	46.90	15.90	51.10	< 0.001	64.20	13.80	67.20	< 0.001
At least 2 criteria	79.40	49.70	83.40	< 0.001	90.00	49.20	92.40	< 0.001
At least 1 criterion or elevated ALT	44.30	14.20	48.40	< 0.001	63.20	13.10	65.40	< 0.001

NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; US: Abdominal ultrasonography; BMI: Body mass index; HDL: High dense lipoprotein; MS: Metabolic syndrome; rNCEP-ATPIII: Revised National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III definition; IDF: International Diabetes Federation definition; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase.