Caracterización de pacientes con enfermedad del hígado graso no alcohólica en un hospital de alta complejidad, Colombia 2013

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects 2% to 8% of the general population. It is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize patients with NAFLD who were treated in the Hepatology Department of a 4th level hospital between 2006 and 2011. Methods: This was a descriptive, observational and retrospective study of a population consisting of all patients treated in the hepatology department of a 4th level hospital who had been diagnosed with NAFLD. Patients with other liver diseases were excluded. Data was collected from medical records on a form designed by the researchers. Data were then tabulated and analyzed in SPSS ® version 17.0. Measures of central tendency, position and dispersion were calculated for quantitative variables, and absolute and relative frequencies were calculated for qualitative variables. The Mann-Whitney U test and the and chi-square test were used as appropriate. Results: 58.5% of the sample were female patients. We found that 52.3% of the sample were overweight according to BMI, and 72.1% were diagnosed with fatty liver by ultrasound. Conclusion: We found that most patients with NASH have elevated body mass indices similar to reports published elsewhere.