TY - JOUR
T1 - Distribution of liver disease in a cohort of immigrants in Sicily: analysis of day-hospital admissions in a migration medicine unit
AU - Giannitrapani, Lydia
AU - Tramuto, Fabio
AU - Soresi, Maurizio
AU - Montalto, Giuseppe
AU - Campagna, Maria Elisa
AU - Affronti, Andrea
AU - Campagna, Elisa
AU - Brunori, Giuseppe
AU - Affronti, Marco
AU - Giannitrapani, Lydia
AU - Soresi, Maurizio
AU - Montalto, Giuseppe
AU - Affronti, Andrea
AU - Brunori, Giuseppe
AU - Affronti, Marco
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of liver disease and its aetiology in a cohort of immigrants. We retrospectively examined the hospital discharge charts of all the immigrant patients presenting at our day hospital from July 2009 to June 2013, and after evaluating the anamnestic, clinical and laboratory data on these charts we identified subjects with liver disease and its various aetiologies. The total sample population consisted of 1218 patients, of whom 112 (9.2%) had a diagnosis of liver disease. More than two-thirds of the latter (67.8%) came from Africa, while 15.2% were from Asia and 17.0% from Eastern Europe. In most patients the disease was related to HBV (44.6%), followed by alcohol (25%) and then HCV or cryptogenic disease (both 15.2%). Forty-six patients had undergone liver biopsy, which showed eight cases of varying degrees of liver steatosis, 29 cases with a variable severity of chronic liver disease, eight cases with a definite picture of liver cirrhosis and one case of alcoholic hepatitis. These data show that a significant proportion of our immigrant population has liver disease and that the most frequent cause is hepatitis B infection
AB - The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of liver disease and its aetiology in a cohort of immigrants. We retrospectively examined the hospital discharge charts of all the immigrant patients presenting at our day hospital from July 2009 to June 2013, and after evaluating the anamnestic, clinical and laboratory data on these charts we identified subjects with liver disease and its various aetiologies. The total sample population consisted of 1218 patients, of whom 112 (9.2%) had a diagnosis of liver disease. More than two-thirds of the latter (67.8%) came from Africa, while 15.2% were from Asia and 17.0% from Eastern Europe. In most patients the disease was related to HBV (44.6%), followed by alcohol (25%) and then HCV or cryptogenic disease (both 15.2%). Forty-six patients had undergone liver biopsy, which showed eight cases of varying degrees of liver steatosis, 29 cases with a variable severity of chronic liver disease, eight cases with a definite picture of liver cirrhosis and one case of alcoholic hepatitis. These data show that a significant proportion of our immigrant population has liver disease and that the most frequent cause is hepatitis B infection
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10447/98752
M3 - Article
VL - 3
SP - 200
EP - 205
JO - Infezioni in Medicina
JF - Infezioni in Medicina
SN - 1124-9390
ER -