Reply to: "The predictive value of significant fibrosis for metabolic disturbances in patients with NAFLD".

Abstract

Mao et al. suggest the modification of several parameters employed in the paper for the diagnosis of the dysmetabolic-related outcomes. First, these authors propose using glucose intolerance tests instead of a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus as an outcome measure . We fully agree with the correspondents about the usefulness of the early detection of glucose intolerance due to the capacity to prevent further events in patients at risk of progressing to diabetes mellitus . However, these tests, such as oral glucose tolerance test , are not suitable for a wide screening of patients because they are time -consuming (2 hours duration) and not cost -effective in this scenario.3 Further, these tests are typically carried out in dedicated units, such as Endocrinology units