"Liverscore" is predictive of both liver fibrosis and activity in chronic hepatitis C

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of all patients (n = 98)

Characteristic	Value
Age (yr)	36.0 ± 10.6
Male	52 (53)
Activity grade
Absent (A0)	32 (33)
Mild (A1)	40 (41)
Moderate (A2)	20 (20)
Severe (A3)	6 (6)
Fibrosis stage
No fibrosis (F0)	21 (20)
Portal fibrosis without septa (F1)	35 (36)
Portal fibrosis with rare septa (F2)	29 (30)
Numerous septa without cirrhosis (F3)	10 (10)
Cirrhosis (F4)	3 (3)

Results are shown as mean ± SD or n (%).

Table 2 Univariate analysis for significant and minimal disease

	Significant1(n = 46)	Minimal(n = 52)	P value
Age (yr)	39.6 ± 11.4	32.9 ± 8.7	0.002
Gender			0.15
Male	28 (61)	24 (46)
Female	18 (39)	28 (56)
Bilirubin total (mg/dL)	0.62 ± 0.34	0.49 ± 0.30	0.04
Bilirubin direct (mg/dL)	0.21 ± 0.17	0.15 ± 0.08	0.04
ALT (U/L)	53.2 ± 39.2	32.60 ± 15.90	0.002
ALP (U/L)	80.4 ± 26.9	81.70 ± 32.30	0.78
GGT (U/L)	51.8 ± 47.2	23.80 ± 16.90	< 0.001
Haptoglobin (g/L)	1.05 ± 0.45	1.05 ± 0.49	0.99
A2M (g/L)	2.56 ± 0.64	2.24 ± 0.55	0.009
Apo-A1 (mg/dL)	96.85 ± 23.70	114.2 ± 29.80	0.002
Hydroxyproline (μmol/L)	9.7 ± 7.0	13.5 ± 9.30	0.03
Proline (μmol/L)	123.0 ± 78.10	144.2 ± 106.4	0.27
Hyaluronic acid (ng/mL)	100 ± 150	23.90 ± 16.40	0.001

¹Significant disease, A2, 3 or F2-4. Minimal disease, A0, 1 and F0, 1, Results are shown as mean ± SD or n (%). ALT: Alanine transaminase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; GGT: Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase; A2M: Alpha-2 macroglobulin; Apo-A1: Apolipoprotein A-1.

Table 3 Scores of six marker indices with their coordinate liverscores

6 marker	Liverscore	6 marker	Liverscore	6 marker	Liverscore
-2.149	0.00	-0.883	0.34	0.270	0.68
-1.985	0.01	-0.869	0.35	0.277	0.69
-1.894	0.02	-0.855	0.36	0.364	0.70
-1.878	0.03	-0.853	0.37	0.383	0.71
-1.833	0.04	-0.851	0.38	0.400	0.72
-1.774	0.05	-0.819	0.39	0.482	0.73
-1.767	0.06	-0.805	0.40	0.518	0.74
-1.712	0.07	-0.778	0.41	0.549	0.75
-1.664	0.08	-0.777	0.42	0.551	0.76
-1.556	0.09	-0.751	0.43	0.926	0.77
-1.527	0.10	-0.740	0.44	0.980	0.78
-1.509	0.11	-0.712	0.45	0.999	0.79
-1.365	0.12	-0.636	0.46	1.238	0.80
-1.351	0.13	-0.593	0.47	1.316	0.81
-1.308	0.14	-0.579	0.48	1.373	0.82
-1.242	0.15	-0.572	0.49	1.384	0.83
-1.240	0.16	-0.510	0.50	1.554	0.84
-1.181	0.17	-0.499	0.51	1.816	0.85
-1.175	0.18	-0.448	0.52	2.244	0.86
-1.164	0.19	-0.362	0.53	2.377	0.87
-1.158	0.20	-0.218	0.54	2.607	0.88
-1.151	0.21	-0.158	0.55	2.781	0.89
-1.097	0.22	-0.135	0.56	2.835	0.90
-1.085	0.23	-0.063	0.57	4.061	0.91
-1.034	0.24	-0.054	0.58	4.745	0.92
-1.032	0.25	-0.047	0.59	5.617	0.93
-1.020	0.26	-0.024	0.60	5.631	0.94
-1.006	0.27	0.005	0.61	7.482	0.95
-0.979	0.28	0.028	0.62	7.968	0.96
-0.952	0.29	0.086	0.63	8.749	0.97
-0.948	0.30	0.147	0.64	11.602	0.98
-0.934	0.31	0.192	0.65	15.956	1.00
-0.890	0.32	0.213	0.67

Table 4 Diagnostic performance of liverscore at different cutoff points

Cut off	Sensitivity	Specificity	PPV	NPV
0.30	89	48	58	84
0.40	85	62	64	83
0.70	54	90	82	70
0.80	39	96	89	65

Positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated for a prevalence of 0.45, all the values are expressed as percentages. PPV: Positive predictive value; NPV: Negative predictive value.