Lipids & metabolic liver disease
Low Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 as a Predictor of Fibrosis Burden in Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease
Authors' conclusion
Circulating IGF-1 levels are inversely associated with liver fibrosis risk in adults with MAFLD, exhibiting a nonlinear relationship characterized by a threshold effect.
Study context
- Population
- US adults with MAFLD, NHANES III (1988–1994)
- Participants
- 1,473 adults
- Outcome
- Association of serum IGF-1 with liver fibrosis severity by log-transformed FIB-4 index
Methodological detailsNHANES III (1988-1994), generalized additive models, segmented linear regression
- NHANES III (1988-1994)
- Generalized additive models
- Segmented linear regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Higher IGF-1 independently associated with lower log FIB-4 (adjusted β; 95% CI −0.0016 to −0.0010)
β = −0.0013
Nonlinear threshold effect; threshold IGF-1
283.4 ng/mL
Below threshold, stronger inverse association (P < .001)
β = −0.0024
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Subgroups (sex, age, diabetes, obesity, hypertension)
- Similar inverse associations across subgroups; significant interaction for diabetes status
- P for interaction = 0.004
Original publication
Low Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 as a Predictor of Fibrosis Burden in Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease. Endocr Pract. Published 10 March 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →