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World J Hepatol. Oct 27, 2018; 10(10): 695-701
Published online Oct 27, 2018. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v10.i10.695
Anthropometric indicators of visceral adiposity as predictors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A review
Naiade Silveira Almeida, Raquel Rocha, Helma Pinchemel Cotrim, Carla Daltro
Naiade Silveira Almeida, Raquel Rocha, Carla Daltro, Department of Sciences of Nutrition, School of Nutrition, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador 40110-150, Bahia, Brazil
Helma Pinchemel Cotrim, Faculty of Medicine of Bahia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador 40110-150, Bahia, Brazil
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception, literature review, drafting and critical revision, editing, and approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Raquel Rocha, DSc, MSc, Adjunct Professor, Department of Sciences of Nutrition, School of Nutrition, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Avenida Araújo Pinho, 32, Salvador 40110-150, Bahia, Brazil. raquelrocha2@yahoo.com.br
Telephone: +55-71-32837721 Fax: +55-71-32837721
Received: March 30, 2018
Peer-review started: March 30, 2018
First decision: April 26, 2018
Revised: June 1, 2018
Accepted: June 8, 2018
Article in press: June 9, 2018
Published online: October 27, 2018
Processing time: 211 Days and 11.5 Hours
Abstract

The objective was to critically analyze studies that evaluated the predictive capacity of indicators of visceral adiposity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The bibliographic research was carried out using the electronic database PubMed, LILACS and SciELO, references of selected articles. Although we found few studies, they have already used several indicators of visceral adiposity as waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, Lipid accumulation product, Body Shape Index, Body Roundness Index and most them were good predictors of NAFLD. Thus, the anthropometric indicators may contribute for the diagnosis of NAFLD in a simple, low-cost and non-invasive way, allowing early therapeutic measures to prevent the evolution to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Keywords: Anthropometry; Adiposity; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Abdominal fat; Pediatrics; Predictive value

Core tip: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver diseases worldwide and presents evolutional potential for more severe forms of the disease such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The most effective treatment is based on changes in lifestyle, diet and exercise; however, this presents the challenge of having to be performed for a long time. The diagnosis, especially of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), requires invasive examination such as liver biopsy. The anthropometric clinical indicators of visceral obesity, of easy applicability and low cost, have been very promising in the prediction of NAFLD. Thus, future studies could be conducted to use them in the prediction of NASH, besides assisting in the therapeutic and preventive conduction NASH.