Fatty Liver Patient Registry

The NAFLD registry is a local database provided by the principal investigator, Dr. J. Allard, which will be stored on the Research Intranet at the University Health Network, Toronto. The database will be password protected. Only clinic personnel and members of Dr. Allard's research team involved in the study will have access to the database. A code and date of birth will be used to identify each patient. All patients entering the NAFLD clinic at Toronto General Hospital will be consented for the registry. Only data from their regular clinic visits will be used for entry into the registry. Data entered into the registry will include: 1) Patient demography: age, sex, ethnicity, medical history; 2) Anthropometry: weight, height, BMI, waist circumference; 3) Nutritional assessment: Food records and food frequency questionnaires are kept by the subjects and data will be analyzed to assess the intake of macro- and micronutrients. Amount of alcohol and number of cigarette smoked will also be recorded; 4) Physical Activity will be assessed using the Paffenbarger Physical Activity Questionnaire; 5) Medications: insulin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, statins, medications used to treat diabetes/obesity (e.g. metformin, thiazolidinediones, orlistat…), medication to treat liver disease (eg. urso, carnitine, choline…), antioxidant vitamin or fish oil supplementation; 6) Blood work, currently including: complete blood count, biochemistry including liver enzymes, total protein, albumin, glucose, insulin, and blood lipid profile; other diagnostic blood work done to exclude other causes of liver disease, e.g. ceruloplasmin, anti-smooth muscle antibodies,… One plasma sample will be stored for assessment of cytokeratin 18 (CK-18) fragments as a novel marker for NASH in patients with NAFLD; 7) Presence of metabolic syndrome; 8) Disease categorization: SS, NASH, cirrhosis; 9) Survival: alive, death: causes, NAFLD-related or not NAFLD-related; 10) Liver biopsy results, NAFLD fibrosis score, and elastography results.

Data will be entered after every clinic visit. Case report forms will be used to collect the data from the patient charts and facilitate data input into the registry database All patients will be followed prospectively until withdrawal from the clinic or death. Descriptive statistics will be performed. For the entire NAFLD population, probability of survival, cirrhosis, as well as liver and non-liver related morbidity will be calculated using the Kaplan Meier method.