Chinese Hepatolgy ›› 2025, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (6): 820-824.

• Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Clinical features and risk factors of liver fibrosis in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

CHEN Lei1, GONG Qian1, LIU Jin-guang2, SHEN Huai-yun3   

  1. 1. Children's Department of the First People's Hospital of Mengcheng County, Anhui 233500,China;
    2. Department of Pediatrics, People's Hospital of Bozhou City, Anhui 236000,China;
    3. Department of Pediatrics, First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Anhui 233000,China
  • Received:2024-10-10 Online:2025-06-30 Published:2025-08-08

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Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical features of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children and explore the risk factors of liver fibrosis, providing a basis for early diagnosis and intervention. Methods A total of 83 pediatric patients with NAFLD, who were treated at the First People's Hospital of Mengcheng County from May 2022 to May 2024, were enrolled. Based on the degree of liver fibrosis, patients were divided into a non-significant liver fibrosis group (n=48) and a significant liver fibrosis group (n=35). The clinical characteristics and laboratory results between the two groups were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for liver fibrosis. The diagnostic performance of key indicators in predicting significant liver fibrosis was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results Compared to the mild fibrosis group, the severe fibrosis group showed the significantly higher levels of body mass index (BMI), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (P<0.05). Specifically, after treatment, the BMI in the mild fibrosis group was (18.62±1.95) kg/m2, ALT was (40.28±13.80) U/L, AST was (31.18±8.45) U/L, and HbA1c was (5.46±0.35)%, while in the severe fibrosis group, the BMI was (25.14±2.23) kg/m2, ALT was (56.32±17.90) U/L, AST was (38.66±9.22) U/L, and HbA1c was (7.05±0.74)%. Multivariate analysis further revealed that the higher levels of BMI, ALT, AST, and HbA1c were closely associated with the occurrence of hepatic fibrosis. ROC curve analysis indicated that the combination of BMI, ALT, AST, and HbA1c effectively predicted significant hepatic fibrosis with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.968, which demonstrating high sensitivity (85.7%) and specificity (97.9%). The model showed good fit, with no significant deviation indicating by the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (χ2=4.138, P=0.844). Conclusion BMI, ALT, AST, and HbA1c can serve as effective indicators for predicting liver fibrosis in children with NAFLD. The combined model of the four factors improves the accuracy of early diagnosis and provides reference for clinical intervention.

Key words: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Children, Liver fibrosis, Risk factors, Prediction model