Correlation between metabolic, liver profile, dietary habits and ultrasound scan determined non-alcoholic fatty liver disease changes in children aged 6-18 years with body mass index

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the commonest cause of liver disease worldwide and this is linked to the change in lifestyle and rise in prevalence of overweight and obesity among children.  Objectives: To study the correlation between metabolic, liver profile, dietary habits and ultrasound scan determined NAFLD changes in children aged 6–18 years old with their body mass index (BMI). Method: A tertiary care hospital based comparative, prospective study was conducted on 159 children aged 6-18 years at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Shimla, India over a period of one year. Children presenting to the outpatient department (OPD) were assigned to two groups based on their BMI, group I with BMI of ≤85th centile and group II with BMI >85th centile. Those with acute and chronic liver ailments and on drugs like vitamin E, statins or antihypertensives were excluded. These were subjected to venepuncture for estimating fasting blood sugar (FBS), liver function tests (LFTs) and complete lipid profile. Ultrasound scan was done to look for NAFLD changes. Results: Children in group II had increased incidence of dyslipidaemia 93.7% vs 41.2%, deranged LFTs 49.4% vs 12.5%, increased FBS 10.1% vs 2.5% and NAFLD 40.5% vs 2.5% when compared to children in group I. Conclusions: BMI and dietary habits have an important bearing on occurrence of NAFLD in children aged 6–18 years old. Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health , 2018; 47 (2): 125-128