Unexplained chronic liver disease in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

BMC Gastroenterology

Table 5 Characteristics of the five patients with unexplained chronic liver disease who underwent liver biopsy

No.	Sex	Age (yr)	Alcohol use	Khat use	Main symptoms and signs	Main ultrasound findings	ALT (U/L)	AST (U/L)	ALP (U/L)	Albumin (g/L)	Bilirubin (μmol/L)	APRI score^a	FIB-4 score^b	Biopsy delay (wk)
1	Female	26	Never	100 g/day, 10 yr	Abdominal swelling; abdominal pain; nausea; diarrhoea; fatigue Ascites	Heterogenous liver texture Mild uneven liver surface Gross ascites Moderate splenomegaly	15	16	88	50	9	0.20	0.53	20
2	Male	25	Never	200 g/day, 5 yr	Abdominal pain; Diarrhea; arthralgia / myalgia	Heterogenous liver texture Mild uneven liver surface Periportal fibrosis Moderate splenomegaly	15	19	107	46	19	0.74	1.92	33
3	Female	30	Never	Never	Abdominal swelling; abdominal pain Ascites; umbilical hernia; non-specific rash	Heterogenous liver texture Mild uneven liver surface Gross ascites Reduced liver span	43	44	258	20	5	0.68	1.25	64
4	Male	25	36 g/day × 1/wk., 3 yr	400 g/day × 3/wk., 5 yr	Abdominal pain; nausea; diarrhea; arthralgia/myalgia Splenomegaly	Heterogenous liver texture Mild uneven liver surface Splenomegaly	100	98	300	58	31	1.34	1.34	22
5	Female	25	Never	Never	Abdominal swelling; fatigue; peripheral oedema. Ascites	Heterogenous liver texture Mild uneven liver surface Gross ascites Reduced liver span	39	62	385	27	17	0.76	1.22	58

Abbreviations: ALP alkaline phosphatase, ALT alanine aminotransferase, APRI aspartate aminotransferase to platelets ratio index, AST aspartate aminotransferase, URR upper reference range
Laboratory reference ranges: ALT (8–40 U/L); AST (14–40 U/L); ALP (60–306 U/L); Albumin (35–52 g/L); Bilirubin (3–38 μmol/L) [21]
^aAPRI: (AST (U/L)/URR of AST (U/L))/platelet count (10⁹/L) × 100
^bFIB-4: age (years) x AST (U/L)/(platelet count (10⁹/L) x √ALT (U/L))

ISSN: 1471-230X