Serological indices and ultrasound variables in predicting the staging of hepatitis B liver fibrosis: A comparative...

To compare the diagnostic efficacy of serological indices and ultrasound (US) variables in hepatitis B virus (HBV) liver fibrosis staging using random forest algorithm (RFA) and traditional methods.

The demographic and serological indices and US variables of patients with HBV liver fibrosis were retrospectively collected and divided into serology group, US group, and serology + US group according to the research content. RFA was used for training and validation. The diagnostic efficacy was compared to logistic regression analysis (LRA) and APRI and FIB-4 indices.

For the serology group, the diagnostic performance of RFA was significantly higher than that of APRI and FIB-4 indices. The diagnostic accuracy of RFA in the four classifications (S0S1/S2/S3/S4) of the hepatic fibrosis stage was 79.17%. The diagnostic accuracy for significant fibrosis (≥S2), advanced fibrosis (≥S3), and cirrhosis (S4) was 87.99%, 90.69%, and 92.40%, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) values were 0.945, 0.959, and 0.951, respectively. For the US group, there was no significant difference in diagnostic performance between RFA and LRA. The diagnostic performance of RFA in the serology + US group was significantly better than that of LRA. The diagnostic accuracy of the four classifications (S0S1/S2/S3/S4) of the hepatic fibrosis stage was 77.21%. The diagnostic accuracy for significant fibrosis (≥S2), advanced fibrosis (≥S3), and cirrhosis (S4) was 87.50%, 90.93%, and 93.38%, respectively. The AUC values were 0.948, 0.959, and 0.962, respectively.

RFA can significantly improve the diagnostic performance of HBV liver fibrosis staging. RFA based on serological indices has a good ability to predict liver fibrosis staging. RFA can help clinicians accurately judge liver fibrosis staging and reduce unnecessary biopsies.