Metabolic Score for Insulin Resistance Is Inversely Related to Incident Advanced Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Abstract

We determined the relationships between metabolic score for IR (METS-IR), triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, and homeostatic model assessment for IR (HOMA-IR) and incident advanced liver fibrosis (ALF) and assessed the abilities of the three IR indicators to predict ALF in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults with NAFLD who were aged 40-69 years old. Among 2218 participants with NAFLD at baseline, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting ALF of the METS-IR was 0.744 (0.679-0.810), significantly higher than that of TyG index (0.644 (0.569-0.720)) or that of HOMA-IR (0.633 (0.556-0.710)). Among 1368 patients with NAFLD and without ALF at baseline, 260 (19.0%) patients with NAFLD progressed to ALF during the 16-year follow-up period. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that the adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) for incident ALF in the highest tertiles of METS-IR, TyG index, and HOMA-IR compared with the lowest tertile of each IR indicator were 0.5 (0.36-0.91), 0.7 (0.49-1.00), and 1.01 (0.71-1.42), respectively. METS-IR was inversely associated with ALF in patients with NAFLD, which cautiously suggests that the risk of ALF may need to be evaluated when metabolic parameters improve in individuals with NAFLD.