ArticleBMC infectious diseases2017
Novel serum biomarkers modified by the body mass index z-score for the detection of liver fibrosis and steatosis in children with chronic hepatitis C.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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9 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Development and validation of an online nomogram for screening metabolic-associated fatty liver disease in obese children.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Construction of a community-based primary screening and hospital-based confirmatory screening pathway in pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.World journal of gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Have serum vitamin D and ferritin a role in predicting the prognosis of autoimmune hepatitis treatment in children?Clinical and experimental hepatology · 2024Article
- APRI and FIB-4 indices as diagnostic noninvasive scores for prediction of severe fibrosis in patients with biliary atresia.Clinical and experimental hepatology · 2023Article
- Noninvasive Pediatric Liver Fibrosis Measurement: Two-Dimensional Shear Wave Elastography Compared With Transient Elastography.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- Protective Effect of α-Linolenic Acid on Non-Alcoholic Hepatic Steatosis and Interleukin-6 and -10 in Wistar Rats.Nutrients · 2019Article
- Hepatitis C virus infection in children in the era of direct-acting antiviral.World journal of gastroenterology · 2018Review
- Article
- Clinical usefulness of new noninvasive serum biomarkers for the assessment of liver fibrosis and steatosis in children with chronic hepatitis C.Clinical and experimental hepatology · 2017Article
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5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is a need for validation of noninvasive alternatives to liver biopsy for the evaluation of fibrosis in children with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of serum biomarkers modified by the body mass index z-score (BMI z-score) for the detection of fibrosis and steatosis in children with CHC.
methodsThirty children aged 9.4 ± 3.7 years (14 males, 16 females) with CHC underwent liver biopsy. Fibrosis was scored using a 5-point METAVIR scale (≥2 = significant fibrosis). For all the children, the following noninvasive markers were calculated: The aspartate transaminase (AST)-to-platelets ratio index (APRI), the modified APRI (M-APRI: BMI z-score × APRI), the Fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4), the modified FIB-4 (M-FIB-4: BMI z-score × FIB-4), and a novel marker, B-AST (BMI z-score × AST). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC) was calculated to detect significant fibrosis and steatosis.
resultsIn the histopathological evaluation, 22/30 (73%) patients presented with fibrosis, and 8/30 (27%) presented with steatosis. For the detection of significant fibrosis, the AUROCs for M-APRI, M-FIB-4 and B-AST were 0.842, 0.823, and 0.848, respectively. For significant steatosis, the AUROCs were more than 0.9 for all markers that included the BMI z-score. B-AST, with a cut-off of 92.8, showed 71% sensitivity and 95% specificity for detecting significant fibrosis. For predicting severe steatosis, B-AST had 100% sensitivity and 92% specificity. Negative values of all three markers that included BMI z-scores excluded all patients with both significant fibrosis and significant steatosis.
conclusionsIncluding the BMI z-score in serum biomarker formulas enhances their diagnostic ability to detect significant fibrosis and steatosis. B-AST may thus act as an effective alternative to liver biopsy.
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