MAY ULTRASONOGRAPHY DIAGNOSED HEPATIC STEATOSIS BE PREDICTOR OF METABOLIC SYNDROME AMONG AVIATORS?

Objectives: Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality rates compared with the general population. Because of several periodic examinations, generally aviators are healthier than general population. We aimed to evaluate whether ultrasonograpy diagnosed hepatic steatosis (HS) may be a noninvasive predictor of metabolic syndrome among aviators. Methods: 32 aviators with NAFLD and 32 healthy aviators were included in the study. Age, body mass index (BMI), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), laboratory parameters [Fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C, and HDL-C, VLDL-C, triglyceride (TG)], TC/HDL-C ratio were obtained from the medical history, physical examination and laboratory result chart of medical recordings.Results: The prevalence of HS was %16.9 (n=32) in the aviators who were performed abdominal USG as an annual routine test. BMI (26.1+/-1.9 vs 24.0+/-1.9, p<0.001), SBP (119.1+/-11.2 vs 110.7+/-7.5, p=0.001), and DBP (76.6+/-7.6 vs 70.1+/-6.9, p=0.001), FBG (97.7+/-9.1 vs 90.1+/-13.3, p=0.010), TC (219.9+/-42.3 vs 191.2+/-30.1, p=0.003), LDL-C (140.2+/-34.3 vs 117.9+/-22.2, p=0.003) and VLDL-C (32.1+/-14.5 vs 23.9+/-12.5, p=0.019), TC/HDL-C ratio (4.5+/-0.9 vs 3.9+/-0.8, p=0.011) were significantly higher in aviators with HS compared to healthy ones. Metabolic syndrome ( and #8805;3 criteria) was significantly higher in aviators with HS compared to healthy ones (53.1% vs 18.8%, p=0.004). Conclusions: HS may be a reliable representative of metabolic syndrome which can be non-invasively screened among aviators. Moreover, HS may be a clinical indicator of metabolic syndrome among aviators who need further cardiovascular evaluation and also counseling for lifestyle and dietary changes, and exercise activity programming. [Dis Mol Med 2015; 3(4.000): 35-42