prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in morbidly obese patients undergoing sleeve bariatric surgery in iran and association with other comorbid conditions

Background: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease including simplesteatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (nash). nash could progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. the prevalence of nafld is increasingby increasing the prevalence of obesity.objectives: this study was designed to determine the prevalence of nash in morbidly obese patients undergoing sleeve bariatric surgeryand its correlation with other comorbidities.patients and methods: in this analytical cross-sectional study, 114 morbidly obese patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy were selected.liver ultrasonography was performed for all patients before surgery and nafld existence and its grade was determined by hyperechoictexture and fatty infiltration. the liver enzymes and lipid profile were also measured. prevalence of nafld in these patients and itscorrelation with other comorbid conditions (e.g. diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism and ischemic heartdisease) were evaluated by spss software version 18.results: one hundred fourteen patients with a mean age of 33.96 ± 9.92 years and mean bmi of 43.61 ± 5.77 kg/m 2 were enrolled (48males and 66 females). the prevalence of nafld was 16.7%. nafld existence was associated with systolic blood pressure, hyperlipidemia,hemoglobin, hematocrit, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and potassium (p <0.05).conclusions: according to high prevalence of nafld in morbidly obese patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy in iran, we suggest usinggold standard diagnostic method to determine the exact nafld prevalence and evaluation of impact of sleeve surgery on nafld in shortand long term follow-up periods.