Comparison of Liver stiffness Prevalencein Diabetics and Prediabetics

Diabetes is known to be linked with a high risk of liver stiffness in non-alcoholic fatty liver patients. Previous studies have faced challenges in examining the association between prediabetes and liver stiffness. This study aimed to compare liver fibrosis in diabetes and prediabetes patients.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on patients with diabetes and prediabetes who were referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ahvaz from March 2022 to March 2023. The study aimed to clear the relationship between liver stiffness and age, gender, BMI, AST, ALT, ALKP, Bilirubin, and the type of treatment. The normality of quantitative variables was checked using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The chi-square test examined two qualitative variables with more than two levels.

Out of the total participants, 53 people (63.9%) had diabetes, while 30 people (36.1%) had prediabetes. There was a significant difference between the mean severity of liver fibrosis in diabetic and pre-diabetic patients (P=0.014). The frequency of liver stiffness in all levels except in the group with mild or no fibrosis (F0-F1) was higher in diabetic than pre-diabetic patients. In both diabetes and prediabetes groups, there was no significant relationship between gender, age, BMI, ALT, and ALKP with liver fibrosis. However, there was a significant direct relationship between HbA1C% and liver fibrosis (P≥0.003) in both groups. In diabetic patients, a significant relationship between FBS and liver fibrosis was observed (P=0.001). In pre-diabetic patients, significant direct relationship was seen between the severity of liver fibrosis and AST levels (P=0.026).

Diabetic patients showed a higher severity of liver fibrosis compared to pre-diabetic patients. No statistically significant relationship was seen between liver fibrosis and age, sex, body mass index, ALT, and ALKP in both groups. Additionally, both diabetes and prediabetes groups showed significant relationship between liver fibrosis and HbA1C (P≥0.003). Prediabetes was also found to be associated with an elevated risk of liver fibrosis.