Abstract. Background and purpose: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic liver disorder with hepatic fat deposits. Emerging data have highlighted the co-existence of NAFLD and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs); both of which are increasingly prevalent disorders with significant complications. This study was designed to evaluate the frequency of NAFLD among patients with IBDs. Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted on a total of 178 patients with IBDs. All participants were subjected to history taking and clinical evaluation including abdominal ultrasound to assess frequency of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in those patients. Results: Out of those patients, 49 (27.5%) were found to have NAFLD while the other 129 (72.5%) patients didn’t have NAFLD based on ultrasound evaluation. Grade of NAFLD among those patients was; grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3 in 37/49 (75.5%), 6/49 (12.2%) and 6/49 (12.2%) patients, respectively. Both groups of patients with and without NAFLD had insignificant differences as regard baseline data with exception of significantly higher frequency of hypertension among patients with NAFLD. Also, those patients had longer duration of the disease and higher frequency of steroid use. Based on the current study, predictors for NAFLD among patients with IBDs were hypertension, disease duration > 5 years, previous flare and steroid therapy. Conclusion: Patients with IBDs are at risk to develop NAFLD that may progress to serious outcomes. So, patients with IBDs should be regularly screened for NAFLD by simple non-invasive methods as abdominal ultrasound.
Keywords: non-alcoholic fatty liver, inflammatory bowel disease, hepatic steatosis, steatohepatitis, liver echogenicity.