Factors associated with significant liver fibrosis assessed using transient elastography in general population

Figure 1 Recruitment algorithm. A total of 190 consecutive subjects who received full medical health check-ups were recruited. Five patients were excluded due to inappropriate liver stiffness measurements. Of 185 subjects with valid liver stiffness values, 26 were excluded based on exclusion criteria. A total of 159 subjects were selected for final statistical analysis.

Figure 2 Distribution of liver stiffness values. Among study participants, significant liver fibrosis (> 7 kPa) was observed in 11 (6.9%).

Figure 3 Proportion of subjects with significant liver fibrosis (> 7 kPa) according to four independent predictors. A: Body mass index; B: Alanine aminotransferase; C: Calcified carotid plaque; D: Number of calcified carotid plaques. The proportion of significant liver fibrosis was higher in subjects with high body mass index (≥ 24.2 kg/m²), high alanine aminotransferase (≥ 19 IU/L), and thicker IMT (≥ 0.68 mm) than in their counterparts (12.7% vs 1.3%, 11.5% vs 2.5%, 12.7 vs 1.3%, respectively; All P < 0.05). Subjects with higher numbers of calcified carotid plaques (≥ 1) were prone to have significant liver fibrosis with borderline statistical significance (14.3% vs 4.8%, P = 0.065).