Miriam Vos, MD: Studying Pediatric Patients With NAFLD

New data shows a higher prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the pediatric population than what was previously thought.

Investigators recently evaluated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in pediatric patients and discovering the prevalence and severity of the disease in patients as young as 2 years.

In the 187 patient study, the investigators found cirrhosis or any liver fibrosis stage was most common among children with a peak ALT > 70 U/L and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 2.2 times higher in patients ALT >250 U/L compared to children with a peak ALT between 71 and 250 and children with a peak ALT ≤ 70 U/L.

In an interview with HCPLive®, Miriam Vos, MD, MSPH, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Emory University, and physician at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, explained why it is important to continue to study the connection between things like obesity and NAFLD in the pediatric population.

Vos also promoted more studies that look at the prevalence of NAFLD specifically in the pediatric population.

The data is part of the ongoing TARGET-NASH study, an observational study of participants with NAFLD and/or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in usual clinical practice and is part of a series of Target studies targeted several diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and asthma.