FREQUENCY OF FATTY LIVER DETECTED ON ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN PATIENTS PRESENTING TO MMC MARDAN

Abstract

Fatty liver is a common liver condition, often incidentally diagnosed by ultrasonography. It is strongly linked with metabolic risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, and has emerged as a significant public health issue.

Aim: To establish the prevalence of fatty liver detected on ultrasonography among patients presenting to MMC Mardan, and to investigate its associations with a number of demographic, clinical and sonographic factors.

Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, 382 patients who presented at MMC Mardan and had abdominal ultrasound were evaluated. Information was recorded regarding age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, use of hepatotoxic drugs, liver size, echogenicity, grade of fatty liver, and hepatomegaly. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on the height and weight. The data were presented in frequencies and percentages, and cross tabulation was done to find the association of fatty liver with different variables. Chi-square test was used and p-value of ≤0.05 was taken as statistically significant.

Results: A total of 107 (28.0%) patients had fatty liver on ultrasound and 275 (72.0%) did not have fatty liver. Of the 107 patients with fatty liver, 91 (23.8%) had Grade I and 16 (4.2%) had Grade II, but none had Grade III. Females were 55.5% and males 44.5% of the total patients. The majority of them were between 21-40 years (47.6%). Most patients were overweight (41.9%) or obese (30.6%) according to BMI. The prevalence of fatty liver was higher in males (32.4%) compared to females (24.5%), but was not significant (p = 0.115). Fatty liver was not significantly associated with age group (p = 0.057). But BMI category was significantly associated (p = 0.006), with an increase in frequency from 15.4% in normal weight to 35.0% in obese patients. Diabetes (71.7% vs 22.0%, p < 0.001), hypertension (58.8% vs 21.3%, p < 0.001), hepatomegaly (85.2% vs 23.7%, p < 0.001), enlarged liver size (85.2% vs 23.9%, p < 0.001), and increased echogenicity (98.1% vs 0.4%, p < 0.001) were all significantly associated with fatty liver.

Conclusion: Fatty liver was frequently detected by ultrasonography in patients at MMC Mardan with an overall prevalence of 28.0%. It was significantly found to be associated with higher BMI, diabetes, hypertension, hepatomegaly, enlarged liver size and high echogenicity. Early diagnosis by ultrasound and prompt intervention to address metabolic risk factors may help minimise disease burden and progression to severe liver disease.