Study of Biochemical Markers in Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease. It encompasses a spectrum of conditions associated with lipid deposition in hepatocytes. It ranges from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis to advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. The disease is mostly silent and is often discovered through incidentally elevated liver enzyme levels. It is strongly associated with obesity and insulin resistance and is currently considered by many as the hepatic component of the metabolic syndrome. A total of 100 subjects were participated in this study 75 were diagnosed as NAFLD and 25 were normal healthy subjects. Measurements were taken for assessment of BMI and blood samples were collected for estimation of fasting blood glucose, Triglycerides, Cholesterol, Alanine transaminase, Aspartate transaminase, Total bilirubin and Uricacid. Followed by the areas under the relative operating characteristic curves, sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic efficiency was calculated for analytes by using the best cut off values. All the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients studied are either overweight or obese and 92% of them are glucose intolerant or diabetics. The fasting blood glucose, serum triglyceride, serum cholesterol, serum uric acid, ALT and ALT/AST ratio values are significantly increased in NAFLD patients compared to controls. Uric acid and ALT/AST ratio are showed best overall discriminatory capacity among all biochemical parameters for NAFLD. NAFLD can be seen in both male and female patients associated with Insulin resistance syndrome and oxidative stress. The ALT/AST ratio is the better biochemical marker for diagnosis of NAFLD.