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. 2022 May 17;22(1):286.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03351-w.

Epidemiology and lifestyle survey of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in school-age children and adolescents in Shenyang, Liaoning

Guan Lin #  1 , Zhang Xinhe #  1 , Tian Haoyu  2 , Jin Xing  1 , Li Dan  1 , Wang Ningning  1 , Sun Jing  1 , Wang Xue  1 , Zeng Zilu  1 , Li Yiling  3
Affiliations

Epidemiology and lifestyle survey of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in school-age children and adolescents in Shenyang, Liaoning

Guan Lin et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is diagnosed increasingly in children and adolescents. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and related influencing factors of NAFLD in school-aged children and adolescents in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship between lifestyle and fatty liver.

Methods: We conducted aprospective cohort study of 1309 school-aged children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 18 years who underwent physical examination from November to December 2019. In addition, they were collected age, gender, learning stage, height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-hip ratio. Finally, a portion of the population was selected to complete a questionnaire survey to explore the impact of lifestyle habits on fatty liver disease.

Results: NAFLD was present in 23.83% of subjects. The prevalence of children and adolescents was 22.73% and 24.43%, respectively. Fatty liver prevalence differs significantly by gender and learning stages. The highest rate of fatty liver was seen in obese children (71.68%). Moreover, exercise, diet, and parental factors can affect children with fatty liver.

Conclusions: NAFLD is very prevalent in children and adolescents in Shenyang city. Due to the close relationship between NAFLD and obesity, lifestyle plays a major role in the occurrence of NAFLD.

Trial registration: The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, [2020] 2020-258-2. Registered 6 June 2020-Retrospectively registered.

Keywords: Adolescent; Children; Epidemiology; NAFLD; Questionnaire.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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