Insulin Resistance in Egyptian Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease patients

Background: The liver has been recognized as a major target of injury in patients with insulin resistance or the metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance is associated with fat accumulation in the liver, a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is a clinicopathologic entity that includes a spectrum of liver damage ranging from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), advanced fibrosis, and rarely, progression to cirrhosis. Recent studies emphasize the role of insulin resistance, oxidative stress and subsequent lipid peroxidation, proinflammatory cytokines, adipokines and mitochondrial dysfunction in the development and progression of NAFLD. About 20% all adults have NAFLD and 2% to 3% of adults have NASH. A strong correlation exists between overweight, in particular visceral fat accumulation, and prevalence of NASH.
Aim: "This study aimed at assessing the effect of insulin resistance in a sample of Egyptian patients with non-Alcoholic fatty liver".
Methods: This study was conducted on 2 groups 104 NAFLD as diagnosed by ultrasound examination and 21 healthy participants as control group. All the participants were subjected to an abdominal ultrasonography, liver enzymes, lipid profile (triglycerides, HDL, LDL cholesterol), glucose and fasting insulin.
Results: The blood sugar and fasting insulin levels were significantly higher in NAFLD patients than control group (172.81±35.47 mg/ml vs 101.33±11.95 mg/ml and11.72±4.7 U/ml vs 5.93±4.68) respectively. 88.5% of NAFLD patients were obese (BMI ≥ 30) and 11.5% were over weight (BMI < 30) while 23.8% were obese and 76.2% were overweight for control group. HOMA-IR was significantly higher in NAFLD patients than in healthy controls (5.02±2.39 vs. 1.41±1.20; P<0.001). We found 81.7% of the studied patients fulfilled the metabolic syndrome criteria while 9.5% for controls. HOMA-IR ROC curve showed 94.23% sensitivity and 85.71 specificity in NAFLD group. Fasting Insulin ROC curve showed 91.35% sensitivity and 80.95% specificity in NAFLD group.
Conclusion: Patients with NAFLD have higher insulin resistance and have higher lipid profile, ALT & AST levels compared with their control group. Also the Ratio of the metabolic syndrome was higher in the NAFLD patients (81.7%).