The researchers in charge of evaluating the biopsies, interpreting the clinical data, or calculating and analysing the reference standard all performed each function without knowledge of the results of the other evaluations. Overall, results are presented as medians (percentile 25, percentile 75) for continuous variables and as frequencies and percentages for categorical data. Analysis of normality was performed with the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Categorical data and proportions were analysed using the χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test as required. The Student t-test was used to compare the means of the two groups with normal

distributions and the Mann–Whitney test to compare variables with nonnormal distributions. An analysis of variance (anova) adjusted with the Bonferroni click here test was used

to compare the means of three or more groups with normal distributions. Multiple association tests were performed using univariate logistic regression and forward stepwise logistic regression analyses to identify the independent variables associated with the primary endpoint (advanced fibrosis; F≥3). In the last analysis we included all variables that were statistically significant (P<0.05) in the univariate analysis. A forward stepwise logistic regression analysis was conducted with P-values for entry and exit of 0.05 and 0.10, respectively. We developed a new index for advanced fibrosis (F≥3) diagnosis using a logistic probability function that we have called HGM-3. We evaluated the diagnostic values of HGM-3 by calculating selleck the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC-ROCs) for the estimation and validation groups. For purposes of comparison, we also evaluated four simple reported models consisting of routine parameters to predict

liver fibrosis: (a) HGM-1 and HGM-2 [21], (b) FIB-4 [17], (c) APRI [16] and (d) Forns’ indexes [15]. We evaluated the diagnostic value of these indexes by comparing the calculated AUC-ROCs [22,23] for all patients included in this study. Moreover, we evaluated new cut-offs for the HGM-3 index ADAM7 according to a sensitivity (Se) of 95% for the low cut-off used to predict liver biopsies without advanced fibrosis (F<3); and a specificity (Sp) of 95% for the high cut-off used to predict liver biopsies with advanced fibrosis (F≥3). We calculated the Se, Sp, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for each cut-off point to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy. We also calculated the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) which expresses the strength of the association between the test result and disease: it is the ratio of the odds of a positive result in a person with the target condition compared to a person without the condition [24]. A DOR of 1 suggests the test provides no diagnostic evidence.