Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Several markers based on anthropometric and biochemical parameters like fatty liver index (FLI), lipid accumulation product (LAP) index and visceral adiposity index (VAI), have been proposed for the detection of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of FLI, LAP and VAI as markers of NAFLD in premenopausal women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), assessed for hepatic steatosis (HS) by ultrasonography.

Design: Prospective, cross-sectional study.

Patients and methods: Anthropometric measurements, biochemical testing and abdominal ultrasonography after excluding causes of secondary liver disease were performed in 145 premenopausal women with PCOS (Rotterdam criteria) and 145 BMI-matched healthy controls. The three markers VAI, FLI and LAP were calculated and their diagnostic performance for predicting HS was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

Results: HS by ultrasonography was detected in 132/290 (45.5%) women, while the prevalence of HS was increased in PCOS women compared to controls [78/145 (54%) και 54/145 (37%), P=0.01]. FLI, LAP and VAI values were higher in HS(+) compared to HS(−) women [68.7±26.7 vs 26.5±24.8, P<0.001, 61.1±39.3 vs 23.7±15.2, P<0.001 και 2.4±1.8 vs 1.2±0.6, P<0.001), respectively] as well as in PCOS women compared to controls. The area under the curve (AUROC) for FLI, LAP and VAI were 0.87±0.02, 0.84±0.02 and 0.77±0.03, respectively, in the whole group of women. When AUROCs of the three indices were calculated separately for PCOS women and controls, no statistical differences were observed.

Conclusions: FLI, LAP and VAI can detect NAFLD in premenopausal women with a similar diagnostic performance. The presence of PCOS has no effect on the diagnostic performance of these indices.