Obese group Nonobese group p value N 94 47   Age (years) 45.8 ± 13.7 55.4 ± 14.4 0.0002 Sex (male/female) 62/32 18/29 0.0018 BMI (kg/m2) 30.2 ± 4.2 22.8 ± 1.5 <0.0001 AST (IU/l) 50.0 ± 24.7 46.9 ± 38.0 0.6187 ALT (IU/l) 87.1 ± 53.9 65.6 ± 48.9 0.0232 AST/ALT ratio 0.63 ± 0.17 0.78 ± 0.26 0.0007 Ferritin (ng/ml) 283.7 ± 229.8 232.7 ± 232.8 0.2183 Type IV collagen 7S (ng/ml) 4.72 ± 1.35 4.13 ± 0.84 0.0020 Fasting insulin (mU/ml) 15.3 ± 10.3 10.4 ± 5.0 0.0002 NAFIC score 1.69 ± 1.33  0.98 ± 1.07 0.0017 Modified NAFIC score 2.03 ± 1.59  1.15 ± 1.30 0.0013 NASH/NAFL 52/42 17/30 0.0320

Table 2: Clinical characteristics of all patients in the obese and nonobese groups; BMI: body mass index; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; NASH: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; NAFL: nonalcoholic fatty liver; Values are expressed as means ± S.D.