Influencing factors for dynamic changes in the severity of fatty liver in patients with acute pancreatitis and fatty liver / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the dynamic change of fatty liver (FL) in patients with fatty liver-related acute pancreatitis (FLAP) and related influencing factors. Methods A total of 136 FLAP patients who were admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, from December 2017 to December 2021 were enrolled as subjects. With the first CT examination after admission as the starting point and the last CT examination before discharge as the ending point, the subjects were divided into FL aggravation group (FLAG group), FL mild mitigation group (FLMMG group), and FL significant mitigation group (FLSMG group) according to the degree of change in FL. General information and clinical data were compared between groups. General information included age, sex, length of hospital stay, etiology of acute pancreatitis (AP), and changes in body weight and temperature, and clinical data included treatment modality and the changes in laboratory markers and AP severity. The chi-square test or the Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t -test was used for further comparison between two groups; the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction was used for further comparison between two groups. Dynamic changes of data were expressed as the difference from the starting point to the ending point, and a covariance analysis was used for comparison of data with dynamic changes. The Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation of indices with significant changes with the degree of change in FL. Results Among the 136 FLAP patients, 61 achieved mild mitigation of FL, 59 achieved significant mitigation of FL, and 16 experienced aggravation of FL at the ending point of the study. There were significant differences between the three groups in the length of hospital stay ( χ 2 =16.215, P < 0.001) and the change in body weight ( F =3.908, P < 0.05), and the FLSMG group had a greater reduction in body weight and a longer length of hospital stay. There were also significant differences between the three groups in the number of fasting days ( χ 2 =11.020, P =0.004) and the degree of changes in C-reactive protein (CRP) ( F =8.589, P < 0.001), white blood cell count (WBC) ( F =5.448, P =0.005), and CT severity index (CTSI) ( F =7.544, P =0.001), and the FLSMG group had greater reductions in CRP, WBC, and CTSI and a longer duration of fasting. Length of hospital stay, number of fasting days, and changes in CRP and CTSI were significantly correlated with the change in FL ( r =0.352, 0.372, -0.365, and -0.350, all P < 0.001). Conclusion Most FLAP patients tend to have mitigation of FL, and its dynamic changes are closely associated with the changes in CRP and CTSI.