Sarah Tomassetti*, David Yashar, Katie LaBarbera and Elaina Van Patten
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is quickly becoming the most common liver disease worldwide, with Hispanic persons being the most effected. Current studies have shown conflicting results as to the incidence of thrombocytopenia in patients with NAFLD. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the incidence of thrombocytopenia in patients with NAFLD in a large Los Angeles safety-net hospital. To do this, we performed a retrospective chart review of adult patients with the diagnosis of NAFLD based on imaging. Patients were excluded if they had cirrhosis, chronic viral hepatitis, splenomegaly, excessive alcohol consumption, malignancy, consumption of drugs commonly associated with thrombocytopenia, or known immune thrombocytopenia. We identified 560 patients with NAFLD. Of those patients, 51.3% were Hispanic. The mean platelet count was 252.4 K/cumm for all patients and 247.1 K/cumm for Hispanic patients. There was no significant difference between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients. Forty-five (8.04%) patients had thrombocytopenia. Rates of thrombocytopenia were significantly different between the Hispanic (62.2%) and non-Hispanic (11.1%) patient groups (p=0.032). The mean BMI was 33.1 for the study population overall and there was no significant difference among Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients. Coexisting hypertension, CKD, CVD, and OSA occurred in 39.6%, 11.3%, 8.0%, and 4.6% respectively. These rates were not statistically different between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the mechanism of decreased peripheral platelet counts in patients with NAFLD.
Published Date: 2023-08-29; Received Date: 2023-08-01
