Assessment of Liver Function Tests and Associated Risk Factors Among Diabetic Patients Attending Diabetes Clinic of Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Jimma, Ethiopia

Abstract

Patients having metabolic disorder like diabetes are more likely susceptible to liver diseases that cause the release of hepatic biomarkers. Determining those biomarkers will help in the early management of potential liver diseases; however, such studies are scarce in the present study areas. Thus, we aimed at assessing the prevalence of liver function tests and associated risk factors among diabetic patients. Methods: An institution based crosssectional study was conducted. 376 diabetic patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were participated. 5ml venous blood was collected for liver function tests and anti-hepatitis C-virus (HCV) antibody detection from each diabetic patient. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed using SPSS version 20 software. P-value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result: Among 376 diabetic patients, 57.7% of them were found to have one or more abnormal liver function test results while 26.9% of them had at least two or more abnormal liver function test results. Out of 57.7% of diabetic patients, who had one or more abnormal liver function tests,23.9%, 20.5%,12.0%, 10.1%, 9.3% and 3.2% of them had abnormal serum concentration for aspartate amino-transferase (AST), both alanine amino-transferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, albumin, direct bilirubin and gamma glutamyl-transferase (GGT), respectively. Out of 376 diabetic patients, 1.6% of them were found to be positive for HCV. Out of 1.6% diabetic patients who were positive for HCV, 16.0% of them had abnormal serum concentrations for AST, ALT and ALP. Elevated ALT test result had statistically significant association (p <0.05) with increasing body mass index (BMI). Conclusion and recommendation: High prevalence of one or more abnormal liver function test results was indicated among diabetic patients. Assessment of liver function tests and associated factors among diabetic patients during early onset of diabetes and then follow up is necessary to control and properly manage liver diseases. Health education about the potential risk of liver diseases and way of prevention shall be provided to diabetic patients as well.