Clinical characteristics of NAFLD and control subjects
| Characteristics | Biopsy-proven NAFLD (N=135) | NAFLD by 1H-MRS (N=64) | Controls (N=181) |
| Age (SD), years | 50.8 (8.5) | 50.3 (5.8) | 48.5 (5.8) |
| Male gender, n (%) | 74 (54.8) | 37 (57.8) | 66 (36.5) |
| Ever smoker, n (%) | 10 (7.4) | 11 (17.2) | 30 (16.6) |
| Colorectal cancer in first degree relatives, n (%) | 8 (5.9) | 6 (9.4) | 9 (5.0) |
| BMI (SD), kg/m2 | 27.7 (4.0) | 24.9 (2.8) | 22.3 (3.6) |
| Male | 28.3 (3.6) | 25.2 (2.5) | 22.8 (2.4) |
| Female | 26.9 (4.4) | 24.4 (3.2) | 22.1 (4.1) |
| Waist circumference (SD), cm | 95.0 (10.0) | 88.3 (7.5) | 79.4 (8.4) |
| Male | 97.2 (9.6) | 90.9 (5.7) | 84.0 (7.4) |
| Female | 92.2 (9.8) | 84.6 (8.2) | 76.8 (7.8) |
| Fasting glucose (SD), mmol/l | 6.3 (2.0) | 5.8 (1.8) | 5.0 (0.5) |
| Total cholesterol (SD), mmol/l | 5.1 (1.5) | 5.6 (1.0) | 5.5 (3.1) |
| HDL cholesterol (SD), mmol/l | 1.0 (1.5) | 1.4 (0.3) | 1.6 (0.4) |
| LDL cholesterol (SD), mmol/l | 2.5 (2.7) | 3.4 (0.9) | 3.3 (2.0) |
| Triglycerides (SD), mmol/l | 2.1 (1.5) | 1.9 (1.3) | 1.2 (0.7) |
| ALT (SD), IU/l | 65 (39) | 33 (17) | 24 (20) |
| AST (SD), IU/l | 45 (27) | 22 (8) | 21 (6) |
| Diabetes, n (%) | 72 (53.3) | 9 (14.3) | 4 (2.2) |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 64 (47.4) | 15 (23.4) | 24 (13.3) |
| Hepatic triglyceride content (SD), % | – | 11.0 (5.7) | 1.8 (1.3) |
| Steatosis grade, 1/2/3 | 51/54/29 | – | – |
| Lobular inflammation, 0/1/2/3 | 62/65/6/1 | – | – |
| Ballooning, 0/1/2 | 44/87/3 | – | – |
| Fibrosis stage, 0/1/2/3/4 | 51/50/13/11/9 | – | – |
| NAFLD activity score (range) | 3 (0–6) | – | – |
| Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, n (%) | 49 (36.3) | – | – |
ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; BMI, body mass index; HDL, high density lipoprotein; 1H-MRS, proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy; LDL, low density lipoprotein; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.