Fatty liver infiltration on executive health screen

Aim To describe the relationship between level of fatty infiltration in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and known risk factors in a population with incidentally discovered findings. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study through chart audit of asymptomatic patients attending an executive health screen. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were calculated between degree of fatty liver infiltration and known risk factors of fatty liver disease. Results Thirty-six individuals were included. Participants tended to be male (n=27,75.0%) with high BMI (30.59±3.66 kg/m2 ). Nearly half of patients (n=15, 41.7%) had a moderate degree of fatty infiltration. The degree of infiltration was positively correlated with BMI, total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides and negatively correlated with weekly alcohol consumption and presence of metabolic syndrome. None of these relationships were statistically significant. Discussion The current study investigates the relationship between level of fatty liver infiltration and known pathogenic risk factors previously described in the literature. No relationship was found between level of fatty liver infiltration and metabolic syndrome, BMI, lipid levels, or alcohol consumption in our population of asymptomatic individuals. This study further highlights the need to better identification and management of NAFLD to optimize risk factors and decrease risk of complications.