High Risk NAFLD among Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Frequency & Effect on Disease Severity

Abstract

rritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disease that significantly affects patient quality of life, interfere with daily activities, physical intimacy, traveling, and self-esteem. Because of its clinical heterogeneity and the unclear etiology of IBS, robust biomarkers and therapeutic targets for IBS are difficult to identify. On the other side, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a common disease worldwide, affecting 25% of the adult population. The aim of the study is to detect if there is a prevalent relation between those two diseases and the assessment of NAFLD prevalence and severity in IBS patients. Our study has involved 75 patients with different degrees of IBS syndrome and variable severity patterns of NAFLD. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria for selecting the patients; IBS diagnosed according to modified ROME IV criteria regardless of the type either constipation predominance or diarrhea predominance. While NAFLD was mainly detected using abdominal ultrasonography, both were differentiated into three grades determining the severity of each and their correlation.

The current study included 75 patients diagnosed with IBS (37 males and 38 females). Mean age of included patients was 42.17 ± 8.3 years. Mean height of included patients was 173.6 ± 9.07 cm, mean weight was 88.02 ± 14.9 Kg while mean BMI was 29.39 ± 4.4.