Summary:
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the condition
where fat accumulates in liver without significant ingestion of
alcohol. NAFLD has become one of the most common liver
conditions throughout the world. At the dawn of the history of
NAFLD it was thought that NAFLD is disease of obese
individual but lean patients are increasingly detected to have
NAFLD. It seems that insulin resistance is central to the
pathogenesis of NAFLD. In addition, oxidative stress and
cytokines are important contributing factors, resulting in
steatosis and progressive liver damage in genetically susceptible
individuals. NAFLD varies considerably by ethnic group and
Bangladeshi ethnicity is an independent risk factor for NAFLD.
Prevalence of NAFLD in general population of Bangladesh is
4 - 18.4 %, which jumps up to 49.8% in diabetic patients. With
the changes in socioeconomic condition and life style, aetiology
of chronic liver disease is drifting from infectious to
noninfectious diseases and the contribution of NAFLD is
progressively increasing. Hepatitis B and hepatitis C have been
the leading causes of mortality and morbidity from chronic
liver disease in Bangladesh. But with increase in awareness
and mass vaccination against HBV, prevalence of both the
diseases has been decreasing in the country. The most alarming
feature is that there is a high prevalence of NASH among the
NAFLD patients. NAFLD is emerging as the largest
contributor of chronic liver disease in Bangladesh. This
warrants the attention of health policy makers and clinicians
to explore this frontier and combat it from right now.
Key words: Fatty liver, Bangladesh, Prevalence, Cirrhosis,
Non-communicable disease.
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2017; 35: 184-191)