Objective: To study the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among the study group in Karbala, Iraq and disease evaluation by inflammatory markers.

 

Methods: A total of 816 patients referred for ultrasound checking, aged 18–40 years. They were studied to detect the prevalence of NAFLD. For comparison of level of CK18, IL-6 and other studied markers, we choose 45 patients with NAFLD. From the remaining standard individuals, we randomly selected 45 individuals as control group. Blood sample was collected to measure lipid profile, liver enzyme, and CK-18. Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) was used for detecting and quantifying inflammatory markers.

 

Results: The result shows that serum CK-18 was highly significant in patient with NAFLD when compared with control groups (p = 0.001). Also, serum IL-6 showed no significant increase in patient with NAFLD than in control group (p <0.05).

 

Conclusion: The prevalence of NAFLD in the study group (816 persons, age range 18–40 years) in Karbala, Iraq was 5,51%, and our results rely on finding from assays of inflammatory markers (CK-18 and IL-6) and that most patients in this study were found to have steatohepatitis.

 

Keywords: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Keratin-18, Interleukin-6