Serum immunoglobulin A concentration is a reliable biomarker for liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Table 1 Clinical and biochemical data of the study population (mean ± SD)

Variable	Casesn = 50	Controlsn = 54	P value
Age (yr)	41.44 ± 13.04	32.28 ± 8.35	0.000
Sex (n)	M:32	M:29	0.287
	F:18	F:25
Weight (kg)	79.14 ± 12.3	64.61 ± 10.96	0.000
Height (cm)	167.64 ± 9.48	166.34 ± 24.79	0.730
BMI (kg/m²)			0.000
< 25	23.79 ± 0.8	22.7 ± 1.8
25-29.9	27.8 ± 1.3	25.2 ± 0.3
≥ 30	33.2 ± 3.6	-
Abdomen (cm)	92.80 ± 13.49	78.55 ± 13.11	0.001
Hip (cm)	100.05 ± 10.06	87.18 ± 13.01	0.001
ALT (U/mL)	79.66 ± 35.93	20.07 ± 8.00	0.000
AST (U/mL)	47.62 ± 18.78	19.93 ± 5.19	0.000
AST/ALT ratio	0.64 ± 0.19	1.09 ± 0.35	0.000
ALP (mg/dL)	209.10 ± 75.21	-	-
Albumin (mg/dL)	4.45 ± 0.47	-	-
FBS (mg/dL)	102.74 ± 22.57	-	-
TG (mg/dL)	210.14 ± 104.81	-	-
Cholesterol (g/dL)	201.76 ± 37.01	-	-
HDL (mg/dL)	46.22 ± 10.49	-	-
LDL (mg/dL)	119.50 ± 39.42	-	-
IgA (mg/dL)	324.20 ± 111.63	318.111 ± 82.49	0.751

ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; HDL: High-density lipoprotein; HDL: High-density lipoprotein; IgA: Immunoglobulin A.

Table 2 Comparison of the clinical characteristics of patients with and without nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (mean ± SD)

Variable	NASHn =28	Non-NASHn = 22	P value
Age (yr)	41.8 ± 11.2	40.9 ± 15.3	0.80
Weight (kg)	77.0 ± 10.3	81.8 ± 14.1	0.17
Height (cm)	167.1 ± 9.2	168.2 ± 9.9	0.68
BMI (kg/m²)			0.153
< 25	23.63 ± 0.7	23.97 ± 1.1
25-29.9	28.09 ± 1.4	27.25 ± 1.3
≥ 30	31.25 ± 1.5	34.25 ± 4.0
ALT (U/mL)	89.7 ± 40.5	66.7 ± 24.3	0.02
AST (U/mL)	51.7 ± 20.4	42.4 ± 15.3	0.08
AST/ALT ratio	0.6 ± 0.1	0.6 ± 0.2	0.28
ALP (mg/dL)	217.3 ± 88.3	198.5 ± 54.3	0.38
Albumin (mg/dL)	4.5 ± 0.4	4.3 ± 0.5	0.18
FBS (mg/dL)	108.5 ± 27.3	95.3 ± 11	0.03
TG (mg/dL)	238.7 ± 110.8	173.6 ± 85.7	0.02
Cholesterol (g/dL)	206.7 ± 39.7	195.3 ± 32.9	0.28
HDL (mg/dL)	44.8 ± 10.3	47.9 ± 10.6	0.31
LDL (mg/dL)	117.7 ± 29.5	121.7 ± 49.9	0.72
IgA (mg/dL)	351.3 ± 125.9	289.6 ± 80.4	0.052

ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; HDL: High-density lipoprotein; HDL: High-density lipoprotein; IgA: Immunoglobulin A.

Table 3 Histopathological findings in patients with and without nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Variable	NASH(n)	Non-NASH(n)	P value
Lobular inflammation 25	18	7	0.04
Ballooning 12	9	3	0.18
Perisinusoidal fibrosis 11	8	3	0.30
Pericellular fibrosis 11	9	2	0.08
Steatosis Grade
1	7	13	0.019
2	10	7
3	11	2
Fibrosis Stage			0.358
0	19	18
1	3	3
2	1	1
3	4	0
4	1	0

NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.