The Obesity Transition and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Glimpse from the Hospital based Study in South India

ABSTRACT

Background: NAFLD is one of the most common indications for liver transplantation in the Western population. The studies in India have been conducted in the general population. The present study is the first in India to be conducted in the medical community. Objective: To assess the prevalence of NAFLD among nursing staff in our institute and to assess the association of NAFLD with its risk factors. Materials and Methods: The study was an institute based cross-sectional analytical study conducted among the nursing staff of our institute. A pretested interview was used to collect the participants’ demographic details and personal and medical history. This was followed by measurement of blood pressure, weight, height and, waist circumference, and blood investigation for fasting blood sugar, fasting lipid profile, serum AST, ALT, HBsAg and anti-HCV. The staff underwent ultrasound abdomen to look for presence of fatty liver. Results: About 150 nursing staffs were included with a mean age of 34.2 years. The prevalence of NAFLD was 28.7 %. Of the subjects, 54% had obesity, 40.7% had abdominal obesity, 9.3% had diabetes, 3.3% had hypertension, 46.7% had dyslipidemia and 18% had metabolic syndrome. The prevalence of NAFLD was seen to be significantly higher among subjects with these risk factors age > 40 years, obesity, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia and metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: The prevalence of NAFLD among nursing staff is higher than the national prevalence. The risk factors for NAFLD in the studied population were age > 40 years, obesity, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia and metabolic syndrome.