Larger waist circumference linked to increase
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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – ATLANTA – Suspected non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing in teens, affecting approximately 10 percent of the age group.
In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers led by Miriam Vos, MD, MSPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and a pediatric hepatologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, sought to determine whether rates of NAFLD seem high because people are studying them more closely or whether there really are more cases of teenagers with NAFLD.
According to the study, the prevalence of NAFLD among U.S. teens grew from 3.6 percent to 9.9 percent, increasing at a rate faster than teen obesity during the same time. In looking at cross-sectional data to explain the increase in prevalence of NAFLD, researchers found a link to increased NAFLD and waist circumference — the measure of the distance around the abdomen half way between the inferior margin in the last rib and the crest of the hip bone.
Learn more:
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2012/05/vos_fatty_liver_prevalence/index.html
Interact with Emory Health Sciences: http://whsc.emory.edu/home/news/interact/index.html
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The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center (http://www.whsc.emory.edu/home/about) of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focusing on teaching, research, health care and public service.
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