Table 2 Comparison of the severity of fatty liver and liver fibrosis between middle-aged patients with localized-OPLL and diffuse-OPLL.

Variable	Localized-OPLL (n = 11)	Diffuse-OPLL (n = 37)	P-value
Current age (years)	61 (50–69)	60 (34–69)	0.825
Age of OPLL symptom onset (years)	54 (47–68)	51 (29–68)	0.268
Male (%)	81.2	35.1	0.013
Current BMI (kg/m²)	28.6 (24.0–31.8)	29.7 (21.0–39.1)	0.205
Current BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m² (%)	88.8	85.7	0.643
Current BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/m² (%)	66.6	68.5	0.463
Current BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m² (%)	33.3	48.5	0.477
Current BMI ≥ 35.0 kg/m² (%)	0	20.0	0.313
Platelet (10⁹ /L)	249 (196–363)	239 (104–437)	0.822
AST (U/L)	25 (14–33)	24 (12–68)	0.869
ALT (U/L)	34 (11–64)	25 (11–64)	0.323
AST/ALT	0.8 (0.5–1.2)	0.9 (0.6–1.9)	0.088
Comorbidity (%)
Hypertension	45.4	56.7	0.731
Hyperlipidemia	27.2	40.5	0.499
Diabetes mellitus	9.0	45.9	0.035
Fatty liver
L/S ratio	1.08 (0.64–1.40)	0.97 (0.44–1.48)	0.158
L/S ratio < 1.2 (%)	54.5	94.6	0.004
L/S ratio ≤ 1.0 (%)	36.3	51.3	0.498
Liver fibrosis
FIB-4 index	1.05 (0.76–1.68)	1.15 (0.46–4.93)	0.611
FIB-4 index < 1.3 (%)	77.7	64.7	0.693
FIB-4 index < low cutoff point (%) ^a	100	67.6	0.083
FIB-4 index > 2.67 (%)	0	5.7	1.000
FIB-4 index > high cutoff point (%) ^b	0	11.7	0.563

Data are shown as median (minimum–maximum) and as the percentage. Patients were divided into two groups according to the OPLL type. Fatty liver was defined as an L/S ratio < 1.2.　Severe fatty liver was defined as an L/S ratio ≤ 1.0. A low risk of advanced liver fibrosis was defined as an FIB-4 index < 1.3. A high risk of advanced liver fibrosis was defined as an FIB-4 index > 2.67.
a. low cut-off points are 1.05 for ≤ 49 years, 1.24 for 50–59 years, 1.88 for 60–69 years, and 1.95 for ≥ 70 years, respectively.
b. high cut-off points are 1.21 for ≤ 49 years, 1.96 for 50–59 years, 2.67 for 60–69 years, and 2.67 for ≥ 70 years, respectively.
OPLL, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament; BMI, body mass index; L/S, liver-to-spleen; FIB-4, fibrosis index based on four factors.

Search