Comparison of the severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in diabetic and non-diabetic obese patients

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease presents a broad spectrum of histopathological alterations, from steatosis to liver cirrhosis. Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) present increased incidence and severity of NAFLD. Objective: determine the prevalence and severity of NAFLD in diabetic and non-diabetic obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Method: the evaluation of liver biopsies was carried out through NAFLD activity score (NAS) in order to evaluate degree of hepatic steatosis, presence of ballooning, inflammatory activity and degree of fibrosis. Results: a total of 154 patients who have undergone bariatric surgery with intraoperative biopsy were observed and divided into two BMI ranges: from 35 to 44.9 and from 45 to 54.9. 32 (20.8%) from 154 patients were diabetic and 122 (79.2%) were non-diabetic. Patients with DM were significantly older than patients without the disease, presenting 41.29 ± 9.40 years vs 36.71 ± 10.13 years in the group with BMI of 35 to 44.9 (p=0.049); and 45.13 ± 7.10 years vs 37.00 ± 9.24 years in the group with BMI of 45 to 54.9 (p=0.024). In the histological evaluation, patients with DM from the BMI group of 35 to 44.9 had a strong association with higher prevalence and severity of steatosis, balloning, inflammation, fibrosis and steatohepatitis. Conclusion: the present study confirms the high prevalence of NAFLD in patients with Morbid Obesity. Prevalence and severity increase proportionally to BMI and who have DM as comorbidity.

Keywords

• Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Liver Cirrhosis
• Diabetes Mellitus
• Obesity, Morbid
• Bariatric Surgery