Fig. 1. Liver fibrosis marker values at each liver fibrosis stage in NAFLD patients. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis showed that the serum M2BPGi level (ρ=0.653, P<0.001) and FIB-4 (ρ=0.689, P<0.001) increased with the liver fibrosis stage. There were moderate correlations between APRI (ρ=0.515, P<0.001) and NFS (ρ=0.628, P<0.001) and fibrosis stage, respectively. However, the median APRI score decreased in F4 than in F3, and median NFS decreased in F1 than in F0. (A) Serum M2BPGi level, (B) APRI, (C) FIB-4, and (D) NFS. The box height represents the interquartile range, and the line across each box represents the median. *P<0.05, ^†P<0.01, ^‡P<0.001. Abbreviations: APRI, aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index; FIB-4, fibrosis index based on four factors; M2BPGi, Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; NFS, NAFLD fibrosis score; ns, not significant.

Ann Lab Med 2021;41:302~309 https://doi.org/10.3343/alm.2021.41.3.302