Abstract

BASAIN VALDES, José María et al. Clinical and epidemiological description of hepatic steatosis in paediatric patients with overweight and obesity. AMC [online]. 2016, vol.20, n.4, pp. 368-377. ISSN 1025-0255.

Background: the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has increased in last decades. In both nutritional conditions, structural and functional alterations of the liver occur. Therefore, hepatic steatosis in overweight and obesity rises each time among chronic diseases of the liver in paediatric age. Objective: to identify the frequency of appearance of hepatic steatosis in paediatric patients with overweight and obesity, as well as to characterize hepatic steatosis from the epidemiological and clinical viewpoint. Methods: a cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in 19 overweight and obese patients in paediatric age group, who met inclusion criteria, at Carlos Manuel Portuondo Lambert clinic, from January 2014 to January 2015. The variables of the study were age, sex, obesity degree, and hepatic scan. The information obtained was processed through statistical program Excel 2003 for Windows and descriptive statistic to acquire distribution of frequency and percentage. The association between variables from categories was explored with test X2 and the exact probability of Fisher. In all statistical tests an alpha signification level= 0.05. The results were shown in tables. Results: from the 19 studied patients, 12 presented positive hepatic scan, from which 100 % was over 10 years of age. Furthermore, five patients presented severe obesity. Conclusions: carrying out hepatic scan in paediatric patients with overweight and obesity allowed identifying the presence of hepatic steatosis in these patients. Age, sex, and level of obesity were related to heaptic scan and there was no association between hepatic scan and evolution time of obesity.

Keywords : NON-ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE; OBESITY; OVERWEIGHT; PEDIATRICS; EPIDEMIOLOGY, DESCRIPTIVE.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )