Clinical Study Improvement of BMI after Lifestyle Intervention Is Associated with Normalisation of Elevated ELF Score and Liver Stiffness in Obese Children

Copyright © 2015 Imeke Goldschmidt et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Noninvasive tools to diagnose nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), including transient elastography (TE) and enhanced liver fibrosis panel (ELF), have only been evaluated in children with biopsy-proven NAFLD.We evaluated the prevalence of ELF and TE abnormalities in obese children without clinical liver disease and examined the effects of BMI stabilization on ELF and TE in a longitudinal approach.Methods. 39 obese children (17m, age 12.3 (7.6–17.4) years) who participated in a 12-month lifestyle-intervention program underwent TE and ELF testing at baseline and at completion of the program. Results were compared with data from a nonobese paediatric cohort. Results. TE and ELF at baseline were significantly elevated compared to controls (TE: 5.9 (3.4–8.3) kPa versus 4.45 (2.45–8.85) kPa