PREVALENCE OF FATTY LIVER CHANGES ON NON-CONTRAST ENHANCED COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY AND ITS ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS

Abstract

Background: The Fourth National Health and Morbidity Survey completed in 2011, revealed that 27.2% of Malaysian adults aged 18 years and above are obese, while 33.3% are pre-obese, with increasing prevalence of obese children. Together with observation of “ethnic lipodystrophy” in South Asians population and increasing prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Asian population, further study of NAFLD in Malaysian population with their associated risk factors is necessary. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study of patients who underwent CT Urography (CTU) examination, selected through simple random sampling. Presence of NAFLD was determined based on liver CT value of <40 HU and CT Liver-Spleen attenuation ratio. Association and correlation of NAFLD with Body Mass Index (BMI), abdominal wall subcutaneous fat thickness and biochemical markers were calculated. Result: Forty-six percent (46%) of study population had NAFLD, with male predominance. There were significant association of NAFLD with BMI, abdominal wall subcutaneous fat thickness and lower serum HDL level. Conclusion: Increasing prevalence of NAFLD with increasing BMI, thicker abdominal wall subcutaneous fat thickness and decreasing serum HDL level Keywords: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, risk factors, non-contrast enhanced CT, subcutaneous wall thickness