Because there can be discrepancies in the liver and kidney echo intensity, fatty liver was assessed in all subjects by abdominal ultrasonography based on the following criteria: the presence of posterior attenuation of the ultrasound beam, vessel blurring, difficult visualization of the gallbladder wall, and difficult visualization of the diaphragm [17 (link)]. A total of 979 subjects also underwent liver and pancreatic fat content (PFC) quantification via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the upper abdomen with a 3.0-Tesla MRI scanner (Siemens 3.0T MAGNETOM Verio; Siemens, Munchen, Germany), which was performed within 2 weeks after the patient’s biochemical measurements were taken. The scanning protocol and imaging parameters, described in detail in our previous study [18 (link)], were as follows: TE1, 2.5 ms; TE2, 3.7 ms; repetition time, 5.47 ms; flip angle, 5°; receiver bandwidth, ±504.0 kHz per pixel; and slice thickness, 3.0 mm. The fat content was calculated for each patient using an irregularly shaped region of interest that covered the entire liver in 21 consecutive slices (maximum area centered). Based on the MRI proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF), the liver fat content (LFC) was classified as absent (<5%), mild (5% to 10%), moderate (10% to 25%), and severe (>25%) steatosis [19 (link)-21 (link)]. Pancreatic fat infiltration was defined as an average PFC ≥5%.