Burden and Predictors of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in a Retrospective Cohort of Patients With Crohn's Disease.

BACKGROUND

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging extraintestinal manifestation (EIM) of Crohn's disease (CD). We aimed to investigate the prevalence and comorbid predictors of NAFLD in patients with CD.

METHODS

We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study to determine the prevalence, characteristics, comorbidities, and hospitalization outcomes associated with NAFLD in patients with CD. Comparison between groups was performed by Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables. We performed a binary logistic regression analysis for predictors of NAFLD among patients with CD.

RESULTS

We extracted 215,049 index hospital discharges with CD; 2.4% had NAFLD. CD patients, with NAFLD, had increased length of stay (4 days; interquartile range (IQR): 2 - 6 vs. 3; IQR: 2 - 6, P < 0.01), and increased median total charges ($32,305.5; IQR: $18,600 - $61,599 vs. $30,782; IQR: $16,847 - $58,667, P < 0.01), compared to CD patients without NAFLD. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was found to be independently associated with increased mortality (odds ratio (OR): 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1 - 2.6, P = 0.03) and a higher odd for all-cause 30-day non-elective readmission (OR: 1.6: 95% CI: 1.3 - 1.9, P < 0.001). Factors independently associated with NAFLD in patients with CD included portal hypertension (OR: 5.347; 95% CI: 4.604 - 6.211, P < 0.001), vitamin A deficiency (OR: 9.89; 95% CI: 4.49 - 21.76, P < 0.001) and vitamin B12 deficiency (OR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.098 - 2.209, P = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONS

NAFLD is associated with worse hospitalization outcomes in patients with CD. Study findings suggest the need for early identification and effective management of NAFLD predictors to reduce complications.