Diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive fatty liver indexes and their association with ECORE-BF scale in a cohort of 386,924 Spanish workers.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of five non-invasive fatty liver indices and their association with obesity in a large cohort of Spanish workers, stratified by sex.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 386,924 workers (232,814 men and 154,110 women) who underwent routine occupational health assessments between 2009 and 2019. Anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical parameters were collected following standardized procedures. Physical activity and adherence to the Mediterranean diet were assessed using validated IPAQ and PREDIMED questionnaires. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using ROC curves and area under the curve (AUC) values for each fatty liver index.

RESULTS

All indices showed significant sex-based differences. FLI and LAP presented the highest AUC values for identifying obesity in both sexes (FLI: AUC 0.907 in men and 0.972 in women; LAP: AUC 0.836 in men and 0.878 in women). FLI also demonstrated the strongest association with higher obesity prevalence across tertiles. ZJU showed good performance, whereas HSI and FLD exhibited lower accuracy, particularly among men. Lifestyle factors and education level influenced index values, with sedentary behavior, low adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and lower educational attainment associated with worse index performance.

CONCLUSIONS

FLI and LAP are the most accurate non-invasive indices for identifying obesity-associated fatty liver in this large Spanish working population. Their performance varies by sex and is influenced by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. These findings support the relevance of FLI and LAP for large-scale screening and highlight the importance of integrating lifestyle assessments into occupational health evaluations. .