Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in People with Diabetes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Prevalence and Risk Factors for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
IRAS ID
149882
Contact name
Gerry Leonard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary, University of London
Research summary
Deaths from liver disease are rising more rapidly than any other cause of death in the UK. The most common cause of chronic liver injury in the developed world is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is found in up to 75% of patients with diabetes. NAFLD is a spectrum of diseases that includes simple fat deposition to the more aggressive form involving inflammation and scarring in the liver (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)) that can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer.
The factors that determine whether an individual patient will develop the more aggressive NASH are not fully understood although a combination of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors are likely to play a role. There has been recent interest in the effect of ethnicity in the progression of NAFLD and our group has recently reported that NAFLD is three times more common among patients of Bangladeshi origin compared to other ethnic groups – including other South Asian groups.
Our aim is to study the degree to which NAFLD and NASH affect patients with diabetes from different ethnicities and to develop guidelines to help doctors manage patients with NAFLD in an ethnically diverse population, such as ours.REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
14/WA/1142
Date of REC Opinion
4 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion