TY - JOUR
T1 - Awareness of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Is Increasing but Remains Very Low in a Representative US Cohort
AU - Singh, Amandeep
AU - Dhaliwal, Amaninder S.
AU - Singh, Shailainder
AU - Kumar, Atul
AU - Lopez, Rocio
AU - Gupta, Mohit
AU - Noureddin, Mazen
AU - Carey, William
AU - McCullough, Arthur
AU - Alkhouri, Naim
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common form of chronic liver disease in the USA. Interestingly, most patients with NAFLD are unaware of having any liver disease (LD). We aimed to assess the awareness of suspected NAFLD and factors associated with being aware of LD. Methods: Adult subjects with suspected NAFLD (BMI > 25) with elevated ALT in the absence of secondary causes of LD who participated in the continuous national health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES) during 2001–2016 were identified and analyzed. Trends of NAFLD awareness were then assessed in periods of 4 years each. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess factors associated with LD awareness. Results: A total of 7033 subjects were included in the final analysis (1731, 1757, 1711, and 1834 subjects for the periods of 2001–2004, 2005–2008, 2009–2012, and 2013–2016, respectively). Over the study duration, an increase in BMI, waist circumference, diabetes, and HbA1c; and a decrease in the number of smokers, platelets count, bilirubin, total cholesterol, and LDL level were noticed (p < 0.001). Awareness of having LD across study periods has increased over time from 1.5% in the 2001–2004 periods to 3.1% in the 2013–2016 periods. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that older age, ethnicity (non-black), having fewer drinks/week, metabolic syndrome, higher ALT, ALP, and GGT were associated with being aware of having LD. Conclusions: Awareness of having LD among subjects with suspected NAFLD has increased over the last two decades, but more than 95% of these patients are still unaware of having LD. Educational programs to increase awareness of LD and risk factors for NAFLD should be implemented on a large scale. Clinical Trial Registration Number: Not required, as we used de-identified NHANES data.
AB - Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common form of chronic liver disease in the USA. Interestingly, most patients with NAFLD are unaware of having any liver disease (LD). We aimed to assess the awareness of suspected NAFLD and factors associated with being aware of LD. Methods: Adult subjects with suspected NAFLD (BMI > 25) with elevated ALT in the absence of secondary causes of LD who participated in the continuous national health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES) during 2001–2016 were identified and analyzed. Trends of NAFLD awareness were then assessed in periods of 4 years each. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess factors associated with LD awareness. Results: A total of 7033 subjects were included in the final analysis (1731, 1757, 1711, and 1834 subjects for the periods of 2001–2004, 2005–2008, 2009–2012, and 2013–2016, respectively). Over the study duration, an increase in BMI, waist circumference, diabetes, and HbA1c; and a decrease in the number of smokers, platelets count, bilirubin, total cholesterol, and LDL level were noticed (p < 0.001). Awareness of having LD across study periods has increased over time from 1.5% in the 2001–2004 periods to 3.1% in the 2013–2016 periods. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that older age, ethnicity (non-black), having fewer drinks/week, metabolic syndrome, higher ALT, ALP, and GGT were associated with being aware of having LD. Conclusions: Awareness of having LD among subjects with suspected NAFLD has increased over the last two decades, but more than 95% of these patients are still unaware of having LD. Educational programs to increase awareness of LD and risk factors for NAFLD should be implemented on a large scale. Clinical Trial Registration Number: Not required, as we used de-identified NHANES data.
KW - Awareness
KW - Liver disease
KW - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
KW - Noninvasive scores
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U2 - 10.1007/s10620-019-05700-9
DO - 10.1007/s10620-019-05700-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 31187324
AN - SCOPUS:85067410910
SN - 0163-2116
VL - 65
SP - 978
EP - 986
JO - Digestive Diseases and Sciences
JF - Digestive Diseases and Sciences
IS - 4
ER -