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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1425145
This article is part of the Research Topic Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) - Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment View all 4 articles

Identifying metabolic dysfunction-associated steototic liver disease in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus using clinic-based prediction tools

Provisionally accepted
Juma M. Alkaabi Juma M. Alkaabi 1Bachar Afandi Bachar Afandi 2Omar Alhaj Omar Alhaj 2Darakhshan Kanwal Darakhshan Kanwal 3Adnan Agha Adnan Agha 1*
  • 1 Internal Medicine Department, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
  • 2 Department of Endocrinology, Tawam Hospital, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 Tawam Hospital, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global cause of chronic liver disease. The prevalence of MASLD is high in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Various noninvasive tools like fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) and NAFLD-fibrosis score (NFS), liver ultrasound, and Fibroscan can aid in the detection of liver fibrosis in MASLD, while the Hamaguchi ultrasound-based liver grading system has demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity comparable to liver biopsy. Objective: We assessed the frequency of MASLD in patients with T2DM using liver ultrasound Hamaguchi score and the accuracy of NFS and Fib-4 in identifying MASLD. Patients and methods: We retrospectively collected data and reviewed the charts of all patients with T2DM who underwent liver ultrasound and laboratory tests, during the past 5 years. Results: A total of 6214 medical records were screened, and only 153 patients (68.6% females; mean age, 59 ± 12.2 years) fulfilled the selection criteria. MASLD was diagnosed using the Hamaguchi grading criteria in 45.1% of patients. A high/intermediate NFS had higher sensitivity (79.7%) for diagnosing MASLD, with specificity of 10.7%, while high/intermediate Fib-4 score showed only 30.4% sensitivity but higher specificity of 54.8%. Conclusion: Our study indicates that MASLD is frequent in patients with T2DM and clinical prediction tools like NFS and Fib-4 can be applied in clinic/primary care setting with variable results.

    Keywords: metabolic dysfunction-associated steototic liver disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Hamaguchi criteria, NAFLD fibrosis score, fibrosis-4 index

    Received: 29 Apr 2024; Accepted: 04 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Alkaabi, Afandi, Alhaj, Kanwal and Agha. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Adnan Agha, Internal Medicine Department, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.