High liver stiffness values by transient elastography related to metabolic syndrome and harmful alcohol use in a large Spanish cohort

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Transient elastography (TE) to estimate liver stiffness has proved to be very useful in the diagnosis of chronic liver disease. Here, we intend to evaluate its use in a large Spanish cohort. METHOD: Nested study within the PREVHEP‐ETHON (Epidemiological sTudy of Hepatic infectiONs; NCT02749864) population‐based, cross‐sectional study performed between July 2015 and April 2017. An epidemiological questionnaire, laboratory tests and TE and anthropometric measurements were obtained. RESULTS: Data from 11,440 subjects were analyzed. Mean age was 50.3 (SD 12.4), of which 58.1% were women. 15.4% showed metabolic syndrome (NCEP ATP‐III), 1.3% were positive for hepatitis C antibodies, 0.8% positive for HBsAg, 9.1% reported harmful use of alcohol. The prevalence of significant fibrosis (LSM > 8 kPa), suggestive compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD) (LSM ≥ 10 kPa) and highly suggestive cACLD (LSM > 15 kPa) was 5.6%, 2.9%, and 1.2% respectively. Risk factors associated with significant fibrosis were age (OR 1.03 [1.02–1.04; p < 0.001]), sex (OR 0.8 [0.6–0.95; p = 0.02]), AST (OR 1.01 [1.01–1.02; p < 0.001]), GGT (OR 1.005 [1.003–1.006; p < 0.001]) and metabolic syndrome (OR 2.1 [1.7–2.6; p < 0.001]); risk factors associated with suggestive cACLD were age (OR 1.04 [1.02–1.05; p < 0.001]), AST (OR 1.01 [1.01–1.02; p < 0.001]), GGT (OR 1.006 [1.004–1.008; p < 0.001]), low platelets (OR 0.997 [0.994–0.999; p = 0.02]) and metabolic syndrome (OR 2.2 [1.6–2.9; p < 0.001]); and risk factors associated with highly suggestive cACLD were age (OR 1.04 [1.02–1.06; p = 0.001]), AST (OR 1.02 [1.01–1.03; p < 0.001]), GGT (OR 1.005 [1.003–1.007; p < 0.001]), low platelets (OR 0.993 [0.989–0.997; p < 0.001]), metabolic syndrome (OR 2.1 [1.4–3.3; p = 0.001]) and alcohol consumption (OR 1.8 [1.05–3.1; p = 0.03]). A non‐negligible proportion of patients with normal transaminase levels, even with healthy transaminase levels, showed significant fibrosis and suggestive and highly suggestive cACLD 4.6% (95% CI 2.4–3.0), 2.1% (95% CI 1.9–2.5) and 1% (95% CI 0.7–1.1), respectively. CONCLUSION: We found high proportion of significant fibrosis and cACLD measured by TE. The most relevant factor associated with significant fibrosis was metabolic syndrome, however TE is still an imperfect method since it overestimated the fibrosis stage in 50% of the histologically analyzed subjects.