WHtR may be a Better and Stronger Indictor for Fatty Liver: A Population-Based Cross-sectional Comparison Study of Anthropometric and Metabolic Indices for Identification Fatty Liver in China

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the predictive performance anthropometric and metabolic indices in identifying fatty liver (FL) diseases in Chinese adults. Indices including Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG), Alanine aminotransferase (ALT and AST), Waist Circumference (WC), Waist–hip Ratio (WHR), Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR), Body Mass Index (BMI), Abdominal Volume Index (AVI), Atherogenic Index of Plasma (AIP), Triglyceride Glucose (TyG), and ALT/AST were selected. Methods: A total of 1748 participants aged over 18 years were included in this study. Univariate analyses were performed to determine the associations between these indices and FL with odds ratio (ORs). The predictive performance of these indices to identify FL was compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and areas under curves (AUCs). Results: WHtR had the greatest AUC in males (AUC = 0.81) and females (AUC = 0.85). Furthermore, WC and AVI had the greatest AUC in 20-40 years (AUC = 0.96), while TyG had the greatest AUC in 40- years (AUC = 0.80) of females. And WHtR had the second diagnostic ability in both two decades of age (20-40 and 40- years) of females. Conclusions: WHtR might be the best for predicting FL in males and females, while WC and AVI might be best for identifying FL for males aged 20-40 years, while TyG for those aged over 40 years.