Citation: Cucoranu, D.C.; Pop, M.;
Niculescu, R.; Vunvulea, V.; Kosovski,
I.-B.; Tog˘ anel, R.-O.; Russu, E.;
Mures
,
an, A.V.; Licu, R.-A.; Bacârea,
A. Correlation between CT
Abdominal Anthropometric
Measurements and Liver Density in
Individuals with Non-Alcoholic Fatty
Liver Disease. Medicina 2023, 59, 500.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
medicina59030500
Academic Editor: Galileo Escobedo
Received: 11 January 2023
Revised: 21 February 2023
Accepted: 1 March 2023
Published: 3 March 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
medicina
Article
Correlation between CT Abdominal Anthropometric
Measurements and Liver Density in Individuals with
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Dragos
,
Constantin Cucoranu
1
, Marian Pop
2,3,
* , Raluca Niculescu
4,5
, Vlad Vunvulea
1,6
, Irina-Bianca Kosovski
5
,
Radu-Ovidiu Togănel
7
, Eliza Russu
8,9
, Adrian Vasile Mures
,
an
8,9
,Răzvan-Andrei Licu
1
and Anca Bacârea
5
1
Department of Radiology, Mures County Emergency Hospital, 540136 Targu Mures, Romania
2
ME1 Department, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Targu
Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania
3
Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Disease and Transplant of Targu Mures,
540136 Targu Mures, Romania
4
Pathology Department, Mures Clinical County Hospital, 540011 Targu Mures, Romania
5
Pathophysiology Department, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and
Technology of Targu Mures, 540142 Targu Mures, Romania
6
Department of Anatomy, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of
Targu Mures, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
7
Doctoral School of Medicine and Pharmacy, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science
and Technology of Targu Mures, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu Street, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
8
Clinic of Vascular Surgery, Mures County Emergency Hospital, 540136 Targu Mures, Romania
9
Department of Vascular Surgery, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and
Technology of Targu Mures, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
* Correspondence: marian.pop@umfst.ro
Abstract: Background: With a growing frequency, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most
prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide. NAFLD has a strong correlation with other metabolic
disorders, such as obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, even though the underlying causes or risk
factors are not entirely understood. This study aims to investigate correlations between abdominal
anthropometric measurements and the presence and intensity of liver steatosis as assessed by un-
enhanced computed tomography (CT). Methods: One hundred and nineteen patients (male/female,
66/53; mean age 54.54 +/- 12.90 years) underwent abdominal non–contrast-enhanced CT. CT im-
ages were examined to determine the attenuation of liver parenchyma, subcutaneous fat depth, and
waist circumference (WC). Results: Among all patients, WC (r = -0.78, p < 0.0001), infraumbilical
subcutaneous fat thicknesses (r = -0.51, p < 0.0001), right paraumbilical subcutaneous fat thicknesses
(r = -0.62, p < 0.0001), and left paraumbilical subcutaneous fat thicknesses (r = -0.53, p < 0.0001)
had a high inverse correlation with the liver attenuation values. The presence of T2D (OR: 2.40,
p = 0.04), WC (OR: 11.45, p < 0.001), right paraumbilical (OR: 10.09, p < 0.001), left paraumbilical
(OR: 2.81, p = 0.01), and infraumbilical (OR: 3.06, p = 0.007) were strongly independent predictors of
NAFLD risk. Moreover, regarding the laboratory parameters, only the higher value of GGT (OR: 2.84,
p = 0.009) is a predictor of NAFLD risk. Conclusions: Our data show that higher baseline values of all
abdominal anthropometric measurements are correlated with liver attenuation and act as predictors
of NAFLD risk.
Keywords: hepatic steatosis; anthropometric measurements; computed tomography; non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease
1. Introduction
The accumulation of fat, mostly triglycerides, in hepatocytes without evidence of
excessive alcohol intake or other conditions is known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Medicina 2023, 59, 500. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina59030500 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/medicina