The prevalence and risk factors of young male schizophrenics with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Objective: In this study, we compared the prevalence rate of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) between young males with schizophrenia and the general young males as the control group, and we also investigated the risk factors of NAFLD in young males with schizophrenia.

Materials and methods: This is a large cross-sectional study consisting of the study group and parallel control group. The study group comprises 202 cases of young males with schizophrenia recruited from Liaoning province Demobilized Soldiers Kangning Hospital, and 149 healthy young males were recruited as the control group. The clinical evaluation included Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), basic information, disease-related information, and physical examination information. The laboratory tests included fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). The physical examination included liver ultrasonography.

Results: No statistical difference was observed between the study and control groups regarding age (30.5±3.9 vs 30.7±3.6), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, fasting glucose level, and total cholesterol. NAFLD was observed in both the study and control groups. The prevalence of NAFLD was 49.5% (100/202) in the study group, and 20.1% (30/149) in the control group. The study group was further divided into NAFLD group and non-NAFLD group. There were significant differences in medication combination, drug dosage, negative factor score in PANSS (14.1±4.0 vs 12.7±4.5), BMI, fasting glucose level, total cholesterol, triglyceride, ALT, and AST between NAFLD group and non-NAFLD group. According to the results of the multiple-factor analysis, the onset of NAFLD among young males with schizophrenia was significantly correlated with the following factors: triglyceride, BMI, medication combination, drug dosage, and negative factor score in PANSS.

Conclusion: The prevalence of NAFLD in the study group was significantly higher than that in the control group. Multivariate analysis indicated that, triglyceride, BMI, medication combination, drug dosage, and negative factor score in PANSS were significantly related to NAFLD in patients with schizophrenia.