Background & Aims The use of ultrasound scan (US) in non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) screening overloads US waiting lists. We hypothesized and tested a hybrid two‐step method, consisting of applying a formula, to exclude subjects at low risk, before US. Methods The sample included 2970 males and females (937 with NAFLD) diagnosed by US. We selected eight formulas: Fatty Liver Index (FLI), Hepatic Steatosis Index (HIS), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), Abdominal Volume Index (AVI), waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR), waist/height0.5 (WHT.5R) and Body Roundness Index (BRI), and calculated their performance in the two‐step method evaluating percentage reduction of the number of liver US (US reduction percentage), percentage of false negative and percentage of NAFLD identified. Results The US reductions percentage were 52.2% (WHtR), 52.1% (HIS), 51.8% (FLI), 50.8% (BRI), 50.7% (BMI and WHt_5R), 46.5% (WC) and 45.2% (AVI). The false negative percentage were 8.5% (WHtR), 7.9% (BRI), 7.3% (WHt_5R), 7.2% (BMI), 6.7% (HIS), 6.6% (FLI), 5.6% (WC) and 5.2% (AVI). The best percentage of NALFD identified was obtained using AVI (83.6%) before US, then WC (82.2%), FLI (79%), HIS (78.9%), BMI (77.3%), WHt_5R (76.9%), BRI (74.8%) and WHtR (73%). Conclusion The best formula to use in two‐step diagnostic NAFLD screening was AVI, which showed a low false negative rate and a higher percentage of identified NAFLD. Other studies evaluating the economic advantages of this screening method are warranted.
Age related hearing loss (ARHL) affects about one third of the elderly population. It is suggested that the senescence of the hair cells could be modulated by inflammation. Thus, intake of anti- and pro-inflammatory foods is of high interest. Methods: From the MICOL study population, 734 participants were selected that participated in the 2013 to 2018 examination including hearing ability and from which past data collected in 2005/2008 was available. ARHL status was determined and compared cross-sectionally and retrospectively according to clinical and lifestyle data including food and micronutrient intake. Results: ARHL status was associated with higher age but not with education, smoking, relative weight (BMI), and clinical-chemical blood markers in the crossectional and retrospective analyses. Higher intake of fruit juices among ARHL-participants was seen cross-sectionally, and of sugary foods, high-caloric drinks, beer, and spirits retrospectively. No difference was found for the other 26 food groups and for dietary micronutrients with the exception of past vitamin A, which was higher among normal hearing subjects. Conclusions: Pro-inflammatory foods with a high-sugar content and also beer and spirits were found to be assocated with positive ARHL-status, but not anti-inflammatory foods. Diet could be a candidate for lifestyle advice for the prevention of ARHL.
Background. Fatty liver index (FLI) is a non-invasive tool used to stratify the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in population studies; whether it can be used to exclude or diagnose this disorder is unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the prevalence of NAFLD in each FLI class and the performance of FLI in detecting NAFLD. Methods. Four databases were searched until January 2021 (CRD42021231367). Original articles included were those reporting the performance of FLI and adopting ultrasound, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance as a reference standard. The numbers of subjects with NAFLD in FLI classes <30, 30–60, and ≥60, and the numbers of subjects classified as true/false positive/negative when adopting 30 and 60 as cut-offs were extracted. A random-effects model was used for pooling data. Results. Ten studies were included, evaluating 27,221 subjects without secondary causes of fatty liver disease. The prevalence of NAFLD in the three FLI classes was 14%, 42%, and 67%. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, likelihood ratio for positive results, likelihood ratio for negative results, and diagnostic odds ratio were 81%, 65%, 53%, 84%, 2.3, 0.3, and 7.8 for the lower cut-off and 44%, 90%, 67%, 76%, 4.3, 0.6, and 7.3 for the higher cut-off, respectively. A similar performance was generally found in studies adopting ultrasound versus other imaging modalities. Conclusions. FLI showed an adequate performance in stratifying the risk of NAFLD. However, it showed only weak evidence of a discriminatory performance in excluding or diagnosing this disorder.
Background Cardiovascular outcome trials of sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i CVOTs) found the agents to be associated with clinical benefits in terms of cardiovascular and renal outcomes. We performed a meta-analysis to assess and compare the overall prevalence of eligibility for the enrollment criteria of CANVAS, DECLARE-TIMI 58, EMPA-REG OUTCOME, and VERTIS-CV among unselected patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods This meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020172032). PubMed, CENTRAL, Scopus and Web of Science were researched in March 2020. Studies evaluating the prevalence of eligibility for each SGLT2i CVOT were selected. Endpoints were estimated using a random-effects model. Results Five studies, evaluating 1,703,519 patients with type 2 diabetes, were included. Overall, the prevalence of eligible patients according to the enrollment criteria of CANVAS, DECLARE-TIMI 58, EMPA-REG OUTCOME, and VERTIS-CV was 36.4%, 49.5%, 17.0% and 19.0%, respectively. In head-to-head comparisons, DECLARE-TIMI 58 was associated with the highest odds of eligibility (1.74 versus CANVAS, 5.15 versus EMPA-REG OUTCOME and 4.81 versus VERTIS-CV), followed by CANVAS and EMPA-REG OUTCOME/VERTIS-CV. A high heterogeneity was found for all the outcomes. Conclusions The present review showed that a considerable number of patients counseled in clinical practice could have been eligible for SGLT2i CVOTs. Particularly, dapagliflozin was shown to be the SGLT2i with the largest generalizability of findings from its CVOT according to the odds ratio of eligibility for the enrollment criteria among unselected patients with type 2 diabetes. Further country- or region-specific studies are needed to confirm the applicability of our results.
Background: The high prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) observed in Western countries is due to the concurrent epidemics of overweight/obesity and associated metabolic complications, both recognized risk factors. A Western dietary pattern has been associated with weight gain and obesity, and more recently with NAFLD. Methods: This is a baseline cross-sectional analysis of 136 subjects (79 males) enrolled consecutively in the NUTRIATT (NUTRItion and Ac-TiviTy) study. Study subjects had moderate or severe NAFLD diagnosed by using Fibroscan-CAP. Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to obtain information about food intake. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and a multivariable logistic regression model. Results: The mean age was 49.58 (±10.18) with a mean BMI of 33.41 (±4.74). A significant inverse relationship was revealed between winter ice-cream intake and NAFLD severity (O.R. 0.65, 95% C.I. 0.95–0.99); chickpeas intake and NAFLD severity (O.R. 0.57, 95% C.I. 0.34–0.97), and not industrial aged-cheeses type (O.R. 0.85, 95% C.I. 0.74–0.98). A statistically significant positive association also emerged between rabbit meat (O.R. 1.23, 95% C.I. 1.01–1.49), industrial type aged cheeses (O.R. 1.17, 95% C.I. 1.01–1.35), milk-based desserts (no winter ice cream) (O.R. 1.11, 95% C.I. 1.01–1.21), fats (O.R. 1.12, 95% C.I. 1.01–1.25), and NAFLD severity. Conclusion: The fresh foods from non-intensive farming and high legume intake that characterize the Mediterranean diet would seem to be beneficial for patients with NAFLD.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.