Increased Risk of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Population-Based Study

Background and objective The global health burden of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) stems from its increasing incidence over the years. Comprehensive studies on the topic hypothesize that IBD plays a more dominant in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In light of this, we conducted this study with the aim of assessing the prevalence and risk factors of developing NASH in patients who have had a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Methodology A validated multicenter and research platform database of more than 360 hospitals from 26 different healthcare systems across the United States from 1999 to September 2022 was utilized for conducting this study. Patients aged 18-65 years were included. Pregnant patients and individuals diagnosed with alcohol use disorder were excluded. The risk of developing NASH was calculated using a multivariate regression analysis to account for potential confounding variables including male gender, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and obesity. A two-sided p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant, and all statistical analyses were performed using R version 4.0.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, 2008). Results A total of 79,346,259 individuals were screened in the database and 46,667,720 were selected for the final analysis based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Using multivariate regression analysis, the risk of developing NASH among patients with UC and CD was calculated. The odds of having NASH among patients with UC was 2.37 (95% CI: 2.17-2.60, p<0.001). Similarly, the odds of having NASH were high in patients with CD as well, at 2.79 (95% CI: 2.58-3.02, p<0.001). Conclusion Based on our findings, patients with IBD have an increased prevalence and higher odds of developing NASH after controlling for common risk factors. We believe that a complex pathophysiological relationship exists between both disease processes. Further research is required to establish appropriate screening times to enable earlier disease identification and thereby improve patient outcomes.