title: Distribution of liver disease in a cohort of immigrants in Sicily: analysis of day-hospital admissions in a migration medicine unit.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Affronti
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Affronti
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soresi
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giannitrapani
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campagna
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tramuto
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brunori
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialities (DiBiMIS) - U.O. di Medicina delle Migrazioni, Migration Medicine Unit, Division of Internal Medicne, Hepatology and Hygiene Section, University of Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Montalto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012802:Sicily; D055815:Young Adult