Diagnostic thresholds and performance of noninvasive fibrosis scores are limited by age in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Aim: We aimed at investigating the effects of age on the predictive performances of noninvasive fibrosis scores for significant fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods: A total of 496 CHB patients who underwent liver biopsy were stratified into four age groups: 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, and >= 51 years. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis score-4 (Fib-4) and.-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR) in different age groups. Results: The extent of fibrosis significantly increased with age, and the percentage of significant fibrosis (>= F2) was 21.3%, 29.0%, 38.5%, and 46.1%, respectively. All three scores displayed a moderate accuracy to diagnose significant fibrosis in overall patients. However, for patients with age <= 30 years, APRI, Fib-4, and GPR performed poorly with the AUROC of 0.567, 0.627 and 0.596, respectively. Furthermore, using the established cut-off values-1.45 for Fib-4, the sensitivity for significant fibrosis increased with age, from 14.8%, 38.1%, 74.5% to 97.87% in above age groups, respectively. To improve the diagnostic accuracy for significant fibrosis, the proposed low and high cut-off points for Fib-4were 0.41 and 1.15 in < 30 years, 0.8 and 1.59 in 31 to 40 years, 1.17 and 1.94 in 41 to 50 years, 1.76 and 3.10 in >= 51 years, respectively. Conclusions: Age may influence the diagnostic thresholds and performance of APRI, Fib-4, and GPR for significant fibrosis in patients with CHB. In particular, these scores performed poorly for identifying significant fibrosis in younger patients (<= 30 years).