@article{10902/35845,
year = {2024},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/35845},
abstract = {Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). The Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index is a non-invasive tool for assessing liver fibrosis that has been validated in various liver diseases. The main objective of this study was to study whether the FIB-4 index is a reliable predictor of liver fibrosis, as assessed through elastography, in patients with IBD. We additionally aimed to analyze if FIB-4 associates with IBD characteristics such as lipid profile, subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, and insulin resistance indices. 
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, enrolling 197 patients with IBD. Subjects underwent comprehensive clinical and laboratory evaluations. Hepatic fibrosis was assessed non-invasively using the FIB-4 index and transient elastography, while abdominal ultrasonography was performed to grade hepatic steatosis based on the degree of fat infiltration. To investigate the associations between disease characteristics and FIB-4 score and the correlation of this index to elastography, a multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted. 
Results: The presence of diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome was associated with significantly higher FIB-4 levels. However, FIB-4 did not show a relationship with disease characteristics such as phenotype or activity indices. Furthermore, FIB-4 did not demonstrate a correlation with liver stiffness values measured by elastography.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the FIB-4 index may not be a reliable tool for assessing hepatic fibrosis in patients with IBD. This observation is particularly significant given the high prevalence of MASLD in the IBD population.},
organization = {This work was supported by a grant to I. Ferraz-Amaro from the Spanish Ministry of
Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), co-funded by the European Union (grant number:
PI20/00084).},
publisher = {MDPI},
publisher = {Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2024, 13, 6430},
title = {Liver fibrosis index-4 does not correlate to liver elastography in patients with inflammatory bowel disease},
author = {Ferraz-Amaro, Iván and Hernández-Camba, Alejandro and Carrillo-Palau, Marta and Hernández Álvarez-Buylla, Noemi and Vera-González, Antonia de and González-Delgado, Alejandra and Heras-Recuero, Elena and González-Gay Mantecón, Miguel Ángel},
}