PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF NON-ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE IN PATIENTS WHO HAVE FOLLOW-UP AT THE ADULT GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY CLINIC AT ST. PAUL’S HOSPITAL MILLENNIUM MEDICAL COLLEGE, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA: A HOSPITAL-BASED CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the leading causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. In developing countries trends indicate an increasing prevalence of NAFLD along with other non-communicable diseases. The increase in prevalence is closely associated to increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome and associated co-morbidities. Objective: The study aimed to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of NAFLD in patients who have follow up at adult Gastroenterology/Hepatology clinic at SPHMMC Methodology: A hospital based Cross-sectional study design was used and data collected on patients attending adult GI/Hepatology clinic from October 1, 2023, to January 25, 2024. Data collected with structured data extraction tools from patients and their medical record. A total of 463 eligible patients who attended the GI/Hepatology clinic during the study period were included. Data was entered to Microsoft Excel for database construction and exported to SPSS version 20 software packages for analysis. Descriptive statistics were done and asso-ciations between dependent and independent variables was assessed by using binary and mul-tiple logistic regressions. Results: Prevalence of NAFLD was found to be 7.1% (95%CI: 5.0%-9.9%). Central obesity (Very high-risk group (AOR=13.525, 95%CI:2.475-73.914), High risk group (AOR=5.045, 95%CI:1.087-23.416), diabetes mellitus (AOR=4.455,95%CI: 1.683-11.793) and hyperten-sion (AOR=4.942, 95%CI:1.826-13.375) were found to be significantly associated with NAFLD. Among cases with NAFLD, only 56.7% were on follow-up at GI/Hepatology clinic for a primary diagnosis of NAFLD. NAFLD was found documented in the medical record as a diagnosis in 60.6% of cases. Conclusion: In this study prevalence of NAFLD was low compared to reported rates in other hospital-based studies. Central obesity, diabetes and hypertension were strongly associated with NAFLD. Thus, stakeholders need to create awareness about the higher prevalence of NAFLD among obese, diabetes and hypertensive patients. Further study is needed to know the nationwide prevalence of NAFLD. Keywords: NAFLD, Prevalence, Associated factors, Ethiopia