CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING CHRONIC FOLLOW-UP CLINICS AT EASTERN ETHIOPIA’S PUBLIC HOSPITALS

Abstract

Background: Chronic liver disease is the long-term degradation of liver processes such as the manufacture of clotting factors and other proteins, the detoxification of toxic metabolic products, and the excretion of bile. Chronic liver disease complications are the primary cause of morbidity and mortality. Although chronic liver disease is affecting patients’ lives, there is a scarcity of comprehensive data on the magnitude of chronic liver disease and associated factors in the study setting. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the magnitude and factors related to chronic liver disease among patients attending chronic follow-up clinics at Eastern Ethiopia’s public hospitals. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was employed using simple random sampling to select 422 chronic disease patients. A pre-tested and interviewer-administered structured questionnaire accompanied by a review of medical records was used to collect data. Data related to chronic liver disease were extracted from medical records. Data were entered into Epi-Data 3.1 and exported to STATA 17.0 for analysis. A crude and adjusted logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors associated with chronic liver disease. All variables with a p-value of < 0.25 in the crude analysis were entered into the multivariable analysis. Finally, significance was set at a p-value < 0.05. Results: Of a total of 418 respondents, the overall magnitude of chronic liver disease was 23.68% (95%CI: 19.59%-27.77%). Among the age group 18-34 (AOR: 3.05; 95%CI: 1.52- 6.13), from rural areas (AOR: 1.77; 95%CI: 1.04–3.03), those with a history of substance abuse like khat (AOR: 2.09; 95%CI: 1.18-3.67), and herbal medicine non-users (AOR: 0.35; 95%CI: 0.20-0.60) were factors significantly associated with chronic liver disease. Conclusion: The magnitude of chronic liver disease was high among chronic patients, with one out of every four patients having chronic liver disease. This study reported statistically significant associations between CLD and age, residence, khat usage history, and herbal medicine non-users