The Prevalence of Metabolic-associated Fatty Liver Disease in the Turkish Population: A Multicenter Study

Overview

Journal Hepatol Forum

Publisher Kare Publishing

Specialty Gastroenterology

Date 2022 Jul 5

PMID 35783905

Authors

Yusuf Yilmaz

Nimet Yilmaz

Fehmi Ates

Fatih Karakaya

Hale Gokcan

Eda Kaya

Gupse Adali

Aysun Caliskan Kartal

Ilker Sen

Emel Ahishali

Seren Ozenirler

Mehmet Koruk

Ahmet Uygun

Ramazan Idilman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background And Aim: The objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in patients with dyspepsia.

Materials And Methods: A total of 909 consecutive patients who presented with dyspepsia at 8 tertiary care centers in Turkey between March 2019 and December 2019 were included.

Results: The median age was 47 years. Among them, 30.3% of the patients were obese, 18.8% had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), 35.1% had metabolic syndrome, 84.8% had dyslipidemia, and 23.9% had hypertension. The prevalence of MAFLD was 45.5%. Among the patients with MAFLD, the prevalence of obesity, T2DM, metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, and hypertension was 43.3%, 24.9%, 52.5%, 92.3%, and 31.9%, respectively. MAFLD was significantly associated with all of the metabolic comorbidities (p<0.001). The median Fibrosis-4 Index score of the MAFLD patients was 0.88 (range: 0.1-9.5). Of note, 53 patients with hepatic steatosis did not meet the MAFLD criteria.

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that there was a significantly high prevalence of MAFLD observed in daily clinical practice in Turkey. Early diagnosis and prevention efforts should be implemented to reduce disease progression, and a region-based strategy is recommended.

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