Metabolic syndrome and severity of fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B infection or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B (HBV) infection or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and to determine the relationship between MS and the risk of fibrosis in those patients, 136 patients with chronic HBV infections and 110 NAFLD patients were analyzed retrospectively between January 2008 and June 2009. The results showed that the prevalence of MS in the NAFLD group was significantly higher that of the HBV infection group (49.1 and 11.8%, respectively; P < 0.01). In HBV group, severity of fibrosis was associated with increased body mass index (BMI), higher aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT), severity of necroinflammation and MS. However, in NAFLD group, MS was more prevalent in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) than that of simple fatty liver (55.4 and 40%, respectively; P < 0.01). Severity of fibrosis was associated with MS, higher alanine transarninase (ALT), AST, GGT, and severe necroinflammation. We concluded that MS might be more prevalent in NAFLD patients, and associated with the severity of fibrosis in patients with chronic HBV infection or NAFLD. Key words: Metabolic syndrome, viral hepatitis B, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, fibrosis.