Fatty liver index as an indicator of metabolic syndrome

Objective: The aim of this study was to find an early indicator of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Design and methods: We measured several anthropometric, biochemical, haematological, and oxidative damage parameters in 128 middle-aged Caucasian men divided into two groups: patients with MetS (n=69) and healthy controls (n=59), and used Weka REPTree and SimpleCART algorithms to identify the most reliable predictor of MetS. Results: Oxidative damage parameters did not differ between the groups, suggesting that oxidative damage is less prominent at the early stage of MetS. The algorithms singled out fatty liver index (FLI) as the best variable for discriminating between healthy and MetS subjects. This finding was confirmed by the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, which set FLI 68.53 as the threshold value for MetS diagnosis. Conclusions: FLI is the most reliable tool for diagnosing MetS. The absence of oxidative damage does not rule out oxidative stress but may indicate that MetS is at an early stage. (C) 2011 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.