title: Cutoff points of abdominal obesity indices in screening for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in Asians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Abdominal obesity is associated with metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Although there have been many studies to determine the optimal cutoff points of waist circumference or visceral fat area in screening for metabolic syndrome, there have been no reports to establish adequate cutoff points of abdominal obesity indices in screening for NAFLD. Therefore, we examined the appropriate cutoff points of abdominal obesity indices associated with NAFLD in Korean men and women using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Furthermore, we compared the usefulness of various abdominal obesity indices measured using computed tomography (CT), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and anthropometric parameters for detecting NAFLD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed the baseline data of an ongoing prospective, observational cohort study, including a total of 456 healthy subjects 20-88 years of age. NAFLD was diagnosed by unenhanced CT using the liver attenuation index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All ROC curves of waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, DXA-measured trunk fat mass and CT-measured visceral fat area were significantly above the diagonal line. There were no significant differences in the area under the curve values among these abdominal obesity indices in each gender. The appropriate cutoff point of waist circumference in screening for NAFLD was 89 cm for men and 84 cm for women and the optimal cutoff point of waist-to-height ratio was 0.52 for men and 0.53 for women with very high negative predictive values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The simple anthropometric parameters, such as waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio, are as useful as DXA and CT for predicting NAFLD in Korean adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hye Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Man Sik
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Chang Hee
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sae Jeong
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tae Nyun
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kang Il
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Hyun Joo
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Wook
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jong Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Yeon
authors.forename: Sei Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Baik
authors.forename: Dong Seop
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kyung Mook
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods; D044466:Asian People; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012372:ROC Curve; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012307:Risk Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods