[Prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in outpatients in Rostov-on-Don: Regional results of the DIREG-2 study].

AIM: to analyze and summarize the data of the DIREG-2 study of the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) register in Rostov-on-Don versus those in Russia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The prospective disease registry study encompasses an epidemiologic, observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study estimating the prevalence of NAFLD in outpatients in Rostov-on-Don. A total of 3200 patients participated in this study. The investigators were 65 outpatient physicians. Epidemiological data were obtained during two patient visits to the research centers.

RESULTS: The key result obtained from this study was the significantly higher prevalence of NAFLD in Rostov-on-Don than that in the general population (40.4 and 37.3%). In addition to the higher prevalence of NAFLD, there was also a higher spread of risk factors (RFs), such as abdominal obesity, female age of 45-55 years, and hyperlipidemia.

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of NAFLD in the outpatients of Rostov-on-Don was 3.1% greater than that in Russia; this might be due to the significantly higher spread of some RFs (abdominal obesity, female age of 45-55 years, hyperlipidemia). The findings are undoubtedly necessary for the elaboration of measures for the primary and secondary prevention of NAFLD in Rostov-on-Don.