Ethnicity was not included in the candidate set for the advanced fibrosis model due to multicollinearity with metabolic traits. The adjusted model was determined from backward stepwise regression using a 0.05 level of significance of definite NASH and advanced fibrosis on the candidate set forcing age, gender, and race into

the model. Final models were assessed using Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).[30-33] All analyses were performed using STATA (v. 12) and SAS statistical software (v. 9.3).[34, 35] Nominal, two-sided P values were used and were considered statistically significant if P ≤ 0.05, a priori. Among the 796 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD who GDC-0068 solubility dmso met the inclusion criteria for this study, 61 patients age ≥65 years were classified into the elderly patients group, and the remaining 735 patients age 18-65 years were classified into the nonelderly patients group. A detailed description of the cohort categorized into elderly versus nonelderly patients with NAFLD is SCH727965 ic50 shown in Table 1. Compared

to nonelderly patients, the elderly patients group with NAFLD had more females and subjects were more likely to be hypertensive. The elderly patients group had a lower mean BMI and smaller waist circumference. Although the elderly patients group had a higher average AST and a lower average ALT, this difference was not statistically significant. The elderly patients group had a higher mean AST/ALT ratio, lower mean platelet count, and higher mean APRI score, all of which are suggestive of advanced liver disease. Table 2 presents

MCE the comparison of the detailed histological features in the elderly and nonelderly patients with NAFLD. Compared to nonelderly patients with NAFLD, the elderly had a higher prevalence of NASH (72% versus 56%, P = 0.02) (Fig. 1), advanced fibrosis (44% versus 25%, P = 0.002) (Fig. 2) and azonal-distribution of steatosis (43% versus 27%, P = 0.01) (Table 2). Furthermore, elderly patients had other features consistent with progressive liver disease, including a higher degree of lobular inflammation and a higher prevalence of acidophil bodies, megamitochondria, Mallory-Denk bodies, as well as more prominent ballooning (Table 2). As expected, elderly patients had a higher prevalence of lipogranulomas.