Participant demographics grouped by LSM
| Variable | All (n=109) | F0–F1 (n=41) | F2–F3 (n=44) | F4 (n=24) | Between-group p value |
| Age, years † | 56 (12) | 53 (14) | 58 (11) | 57 (11) | 0.150 ‡ |
| Gender, n (%) | 0.187 § | ||||
| Female | 55 (50) | 18 (44) | 21 (48) | 16 (67) | |
| Male | 54 (50) | 23 (56) | 23 (52) | 8 (33) | |
| Smoking status, n (%) | 0.440 § | ||||
| Non-smoker | 44 (41) | 20 (49) | 16 (37) | 8 (35) | |
| Former-smoker | 51 (48) | 16 (39) | 21 (49) | 14 (61) | |
| Smoker | 12 (11) | 5 (12) | 6 (14) | 1 (4) | |
| T2DM, n (%n) | 58 (53) | 14 (34) | 26 (59) | 18 (75) | 0.004 **§ |
| Hypercholesteremia, n (%) | 66 (61) | 23 (56) | 28 (64) | 15 (63) | 0.758 § |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 50 (46) | 10 (24) | 25 (57) | 15 (63) | 0.002 **§ |
| BMI (kg/m2) ¶ | 32.3 (9.4) | 30.9 (4.2) | 35.0 (8.2) | 34.1 (14.3) | 0.002 **†† |
| AST (IU/L) ¶ | 28 (18) | 23 (12) | 28 (19) | 32 (14) | 0.004 **†† |
| ALT (IU/L) ¶ | 39 (30) | 36 (29) | 44 (33) | 41 (23) | 0.074 †† |
| ALP (IU/L) ¶ | 81 (43) | 75 (39) | 80 (43) | 93 (46) | 0.169 †† |
| GGT (IU/L) ¶ | 51 (63) | 41 (54) | 51 (64) | 74 (161) | 0.017 *†† |
| CRP (mg/L) ¶ | 2.4 (3.3) | 1.6 (2.3) | 2.6 (3.0) | 2.9 (7.1) | 0.047 *†† |
| NLR ¶ | 1.9 (1.1) | 1.9 (1.4) | 1.7 (1.0) | 2.3 (1.1) | 0.013 *†† |
| HbA1c (mmol/mol) ¶ | 43 (17) | 38 (10) | 44 (17) | 50 (20) | 0.001 **†† |
| Plasma glucose (mmol/L) ¶ | 6.0 (2.9) | 5.6 (1.4) | 6.5 (4.6) | 6.2 (3.5) | 0.050 †† |
| Hepatic CAP (dB/m) ¶ | 319 (64) | 302 (62) | 329 (61) | 340 (80) | 0.007 **†† |
| Hepatic stiffness (kPa) ¶ | 9.4 (6.3) | 5.9 (2.1) | 10.0 (2.3) | 15.9 (7.7) | ≤0.001 ***†† |
| FAST score ¶ | 0.36 (0.40) | 0.16 (0.28) | 0.44 (0.30) | 0.62 (0.21) | ≤0.001 ***†† |
Significant between-group difference (p≤0.05), **Significant between-group difference (p≤0.01), ***Significant between-group difference (p≤0.001).
†Normally distributed variable (mean (SD)).
‡One-way analysis of variance.
§Pearson’s χ2 test.
¶Non-normally distributed variable (median (IQR)).
††Kruskal Wallis test.
ALP, alkaline phosphatase; ALT, alanine transferase; AST, aspartate transferase; BMI, body mass index; CAP, controlled attenuation parameter; CRP, C reactive protein; GGT, gamma-glutamyl transferase; HbA1c, glycated haemoglobin; LSM, liver stiffness measurement; NLR, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio.