Three of the non-invasive methods used to predict who has NASH agree only about 20% of the time
Researchers and clinicians have been trying to find a way to diagnose nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) without taking a liver tissue biopsy, but according to new research, formulas that aim to predict NASH based on risk factors do not agree with each other and their accuracy varies. The study was accepted for presentation at ENDO 2020, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, and publication in a special supplemental section of the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
“The three non-invasive methods we investigated agreed on a NASH diagnosis for only about one-fifth of the participants in the database,” said lead study author Theodore C. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Internal Medicine of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, Calif. “These results imply that better methods are needed to predict NASH.”
SUN-606: Identification of NASH Using Data from NHANES III
Further refinement of a noninvasive method for identifying NASH is required. Considerable care must be taken in interpreting risk factors, because the results differ depending which method is used. This could have implications in clinical practice as well, where patients and their risk factors may be mis-identified if formulas are used and not liver biopsy.
