2007, Number 3
Hepatology Highlights
Language: English
References: 0
Page: 134
PDF size: 43.59 Kb.
Text Extraction
Prevalence of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Population based studies, by Deepak Amarapurkar et al.
This study is somehow a follow-up of another study performed by the same group (Ann Hepatol 2007;6:35-40) where the prevalence of fatty liver was evaluated among autopsies performed over 5 years period of time in the Mumbay area. In this report the prevalence of non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was investigated in a cohort of 1,168 railways workers in living in the same geographical basin. After the exclusion of any possible co-factors of fatty liver (viral infection, alcohol consumption, underlying known liver disease or drug assumption) 730 subjects were enrolled and fatty liver assessed by ultrasound. The overall prevalence of steatosis was 19% but increased in males (particularly when older than 40 years), obese and hyperglycemic subjects. Unfortunately, as in most of the studies so far reported, there is no possibility to differentiate the benign NAFLD from the most severe NASH.