Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
Clinicopathological characteristics and risk factors in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients with different stages of liver fibrosis
Peng-Yu Pan, Wen-Wen Zheng, Xiao-Jiang Zhang, Ya-Yi Wu, Graduate School, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
Yuan-Qiang Guo, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, College of Pharmacy, and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Drug Research, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
Yong-Gang Liu, Department of Pathology, Tianjin Second People’s Hospital, Tianjin 300110, China
Jian-Zhou Li, Jun-Guo Qi, Department of Gastroenterology, Xining Second People’s Hospital, Xining 810003, Qinghai Province, China
Chun-Yan Wang, Department of Gastroenterology, Tianjin Second People’s Hospital, Tianjin Institute of Hepatology, Clinical School of the Second People’s Hospital, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300110, China
Author contributions: Pan PY and Zheng WW wrote the manuscript; Pan PY, Zhang XJ and Wu YY contributed to data collation; Pan PY and Zhang XJ contributed to statistical analysis; Liu YG contributed to liver pathology reading; Wang CY, Qi JG and Li JZ contributed to manuscript revision; Wang CY and Guo YQ contributed to research supervision; Wang CY contributed to project design; and all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: The authors take full responsibility and accountability for all content of this manuscript. AI tools were not used to generate original scientific data, perform independent scientific analyses, or draw scientific conclusions.
Supported by the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, No. [KY0170].
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second People’s Hospital of Tianjin, Ethics Approval Number:[2026]11.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to provide informed consent for the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment via written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Chun-Yan Wang, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Tianjin Second People’s Hospital, Tianjin Institute of Hepatology, Clinical School of the Second People’s Hospital, Tianjin Medical University, No. 7 Sudi South Road, Tianjin 300110, China.
Received: March 30, 2026
Revised: June 2, 2026
Accepted: June 24, 2026
Published online: July 27, 2026
Processing time: 116 Days and 23 Hours
Revised: June 2, 2026
Accepted: June 24, 2026
Published online: July 27, 2026
Processing time: 116 Days and 23 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This retrospective study included 122 patients diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) via liver biopsy. SPSS 27.0 and R 4.5.2 software was used to analyze patient data. Patients were stratified according to the degree of pathological fibrosis, their clinicopathological features were analyzed, and risk factors associated with the severity of liver fibrosis were further explored. We revealed that the presence of diabetes and elevated low-density lipoprotein levels are risk factors associated with the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with NASH.