Albumin-bilirubin score reflects the extent of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with direct-acting antivirals

Table 1 Baseline demographic data in relation to patients’ fibrosis degree, n (%)/median ± interquartile range

	Non-advanced 118 (51)	Advanced 113 (49)	P value1
Age	51 ± 21	61 ± 25	< 0.001
Gender
Male	54	44	0.29
Female	64	69
Diabetes mellitus
No	95 (56.89)	72 (43.11)	0.003
Yes	23 (35.94)	41 (64.06)
Hypertension
No	91 (56.88)	69 (43.12)	0.06
Yes	27 (38.03)	44 (61.97)
Dyslipidemia
No	116 (98.3)	2 (1.7)	0.32
Yes	109 (96.5)	4 (3.5)
Treatment status
Nonresponder	12 (40)	18 (60)	0.58
Naive	101 (52.6)	91 (47.4)
Relapsed	3 (50)	3 (50)
Intolerant to interferon-based treatment	2 (66.6)	1 (33.3)
Sustained virological response 12
Yes	116 (52)	107 (48)	0.12
No	2 (25)	6 (75)
Medication
Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir)	25 (58.1)	18 (41.9)	0.41
Viekirax (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir) + ribavirin	5 (35.7)	9 (64.3)
Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir) + ribavirin	61 (47.3)	68 (52.7)
Olysio (simeprievir + sofosbuovir)	17 (68)	8 (32)
Zepatier (elbasvir/grazoprevir)	7 (46.2)	6 (53.8)
Viekirax (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir)	1 (50)	1 (50)
Viekirax + exviera (dasabuvir)	1 (33.3)	2 (66.6)
Mavyret (glecaprevir/pibrentasvir)	1 (100)	0 (0)
Epclusa (sofosbuvir-velpatasvir)	0 (0)	1 (100)
AFP	4.56 ± 5	6.38 ± 5	< 0.004
ALBI	-2.72 ± 0.45	-2.29 ± 0.60	< 0.001
Albumin	39.5 ± 6.5	35 ± 6.4	< 0.001
ALP	79 ± 30.5	96 ± 45	< 0.003
ALT	33 ± 38	51 ± 57	< 0.001
APRI score	0.43 ± 0.05	1.06 ± 0.1	< 0.001
AST	28 ± 19	51 ± 46	< 0.001
AST/ALT	0.80 ± 0.48	0.95 ± 0.50	< 0.005
FIB-4 score	0.98 ± 0.54	2.3 ± 2.6	< 0.001
Hemoglobin	13.6 ± 2.6	13.7 ± 2.3	0.26
INR	1.0 ± 0.1	1.10 ± 0.20	< 0.001
Platelets	249 ± 113	192 ± 110	< 0.001
Total bilirubin	8.77 ± 7	11.4 ± 9.4	0.05
WBC	5.96 ± 2.54	5.86 ± 2.34	0.17
ALBI grade
Grade I	77 (72.6)	29 (27.4)	< 0.001
Grade II	38 (33.3)	76 (66.6)
Grade III	3 (27.3)	8 (72.7)
FibroScan stages
F0	50 (100)	0 (0)	< 0.001
F1	39 (100)	0 (0)
F2	29 (100)	0 (0)
F3	0 (0)	24 (100)
F4	0 (0)	89 (100)

¹Continuous variables were compared with Mann-Whitney U test and categorical variables were compared with χ² test or Fisher’s exact test.

AFP: Alpha fetoprotein; ALBI: Albumin-bilirubin; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; ALT: Alanine transaminase; APRI: Aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index; AST: Aspartate transaminase; FIB-4: Fibrosis-4 Index; INR: International normalized ratio; WBC: White blood count.