Gurnoor Kaur Dhaliwal1, Satya Bhushan Nayyar2, Manish Chandey3
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults has been
reported to be as high as 33 % making it the most common cause of chronic liver
disease. Metabolic derangements are suggested to be the main cause of NAFLD.
As thyroid hormone is the main regulator of energy metabolism, there may be a
link between NAFLD and thyroid function.
METHODS
The study was conducted on 100 patients with diagnosis of NAFLD on
ultrasonography from 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2020. These patients were
further assessed for thyroid dysfunction by thyroid function tests.
RESULTS
The present study consisted of 100 patients having Non-alcoholic fatty liver
disease diagnosed on ultrasonography, 47 % were having grade 1, 42 % were
having grade 2 and 11 % were having grade 3 fatty liver. In the present study, 59
% were having normal FT3 levels and 41 % patients had low FT3 levels which
showed no significant relationship with increasing grades of fatty liver (p = 0.114).
In the present study, 20 % of the patients were having low free T4 levels whereas
80 % had normal free T4 levels, and free T4 levels showed inverse relationship
with increasing grades of fatty liver (p = 0.000). 18 % patients with NAFLD had
hypothyroidism (4 % subclinical and 14 % overt hypothyroid) and more
percentage of patients with grade 2 and 3 fatty liver had hypothyroidism.
CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of hypothyroidism was 18 % in patients with NAFLD. Free T4 and
serum TSH levels had significant correlation with increasing grades of fatty liver.
Hence, statistically significant association was found between hypothyroidism and
NAFLD.
