Predictive Power of Visceral Adiposity Index and Model of Adipose Distribution in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)

Nowadays, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered as the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. Visceral adiposity index (VAI) and model of adipose distribution (MOAD) are novel indicators of abdominal fat dysfunction shown to have a strong correlation with cardiovascular diseases, even there is controversy for patients with NAFLD. This study aimed to compare VAI and MOAD in patients with NAFLD and healthy individuals.

In a case-control study, 44 patients with NAFLD aged 20-60 years and 44 healthy individuals of the same age and sex were enrolled. Liver enzymes and lipid profile were measured after fasting for 10-12 hours. Anthropometric data, blood pressure, MOAD and VAI were determined for each subject separately.

Although the mean of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), VAI, and MOAD indices were significantly different between case and control groups, all indices could only predict NAFLD in females except for BMI.

This study showed that BMI is not a predictor for the development of NAFLD in males and females. VAI, MOAD indices can be used to estimate the relationship for NAFLD regarding two indices of WC and WHtR as the most powerful indices for estimation of the proportion of the risk for developing NAFLD.