Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 May;53(5):750-5.
doi: 10.1136/gut.2003.019984.

Long term prognosis of fatty liver: risk of chronic liver disease and death

S Dam-Larsen  1 , M Franzmann, I B Andersen, P Christoffersen, L B Jensen, T I A Sørensen, U Becker, F Bendtsen
Affiliations

Long term prognosis of fatty liver: risk of chronic liver disease and death

S Dam-Larsen et al. Gut. 2004 May.

Abstract

Background and aims: Fatty liver is a common histological finding in human liver biopsy specimens. It affects 10-24% of the general population and is believed to be a marker of risk of later chronic liver disease. The present study examined the risk of development of cirrhotic liver disease and the risk of death in a cohort diagnosed with pure fatty liver without inflammation.

Methods: A total of 215 patients who had a liver biopsy performed during the period 1976-1987 were included in the study. The population consisted of 109 non-alcoholic and 106 alcoholic fatty liver patients. Median follow up time was 16.7 (0.2-21.9) years in the non-alcoholic and 9.2 (0.6-23.1) years in the alcoholic group. Systematic data collection was carried out by review of all medical records. All members of the study cohort were linked through their unique personal identification number to the National Registry of Patients and the nationwide Registry of Causes of Death, and all admissions, discharge diagnoses, and causes of death were obtained.

Results: In the non-alcoholic fatty liver group, one patient developed cirrhosis during the follow up period compared with 22 patients in the alcoholic group. Survival estimates were significantly (p<0.01) different between the two groups, for men as well as for women, with a higher death rate in the alcoholic fatty liver group. Survival estimates in the non-alcoholic fatty liver group were not different from the Danish population.

Conclusions: This study revealed that patients with type 1 non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have a benign clinical course without excess mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Details of patients studied, showing reasons for exclusions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival probability for women (A) and men (B) with histologically verified non-alcoholic and alcoholic fatty liver in comparison with the general population.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Angulo P. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. N Engl J Med 2002;346:1221–31. - PubMed
    1. Lonardo A. Fatty liver and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Where do we stand and where are we going? Dig Dis 1999;17:80–9. - PubMed
    1. Hilden M, Christoffersen P, Juhl E, et al. Liver histology in a ‘normal’ population—examinations of 503 consecutive fatal traffic casualties. Scand J Gastroenterol 1977;12:593–7. - PubMed
    1. Baddeley RM. An epilogue to jejunoileal bypass. World J Surg 1985;9:842–9. - PubMed
    1. Burt AD, Mutton A, Day CP. Diagnosis and interpretation of steatosis and steatohepatitis. Semin Diagn Pathol 1998;15:246–58. - PubMed

Publication types