Noninvasive Scoring Systems for Predicting Liver-Related Outcomes and Mortality in NAFLD

Several noninvasive scoring systems are available to predict advanced fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but their ability to predict liver-related outcomes, including mortality, is unclear.

In a retrospective cohort study in Sweden, researchers assessed the accuracy of the NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), fibrosis-4 score (FIB-4), and BARD score and the aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) to predict overall mortality and progression to severe liver disease in 646 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. Scores were calculated at biopsy. Severe liver disease was defined as development of compensated or decompensated cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer, or occurrence of liver transplantation o…