Measurement of Liver Size by Ultrasound Unveils Large Livers in Overweight Children

Purpose: To analyze the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) percentile and liver size and to predict the probabilities of fatty liver and hepatomegaly for overweight and obese boys and girls among Mexican-American children. Methods: One thousand two hundred fourteen reports of children visiting a South Texas pediatric clinic from 2011 to 2018 were analyzed. Ultrasonography was requested for patients whenever the patient was gaining excessive weight and the readings for alkaline phosphatase levels were 2 SD above the normal population; or when liver enzymes were elevated, Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) above 50/46, Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) above 47/41, and Gammaglutamyl transferase (GGT) above 32/28 for boys and girls respectively. The data was analyzed using linear regression and logistic regression models. Results: The results of the analysis support that the probability of fatty liver and hepatomegaly increase exponentially as BMI percentile increases. There is also a positive linear relationship between liver size and BMI percentile. Conclusion: The logistic regression analysis predicts that as BMI percentile increases the probability of fatty liver and hepatomegaly increases.