Background/AimsThe prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Korea has increased recently. The aim of the present study was to determine the regional differences in the prevalence and characteristics of NAFLD.MethodsFrom January 2009 to December 2010, 161,891 Seoul and Gyeonggi-do residents receiving a health examination at our institution were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. After applying exclusion criteria, the data of 141,610 subjects (80,943 males, 60,667 females) were analyzed. The presence of NAFLD was established by ultrasound examination.ResultsThe overall prevalence of NAFLD was 27.3% (38.3% in men, 12.6% in women). When standardized according to age, area, and sex, the prevalence of NAFLD was 25.2%. The age and area standardized prevalence of NAFLD was higher for men (34.4%) than for women (12.2%; P<0.001). The overall prevalence of NAFLD was higher in Gyeonggi-do (27.7%) than in Seoul (26.9%; P<0.001). Among the men, the prevalence of NAFLD was higher in Gyeonggi-do (39.2%) than in Seoul (37.4%; P<0.001), while for the women it was higher in Seoul (13.2%) than in Gyeonggi-do (12.0%; P<0.001).ConclusionsThe regional prevalence of NAFLD differed between Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Further studies are needed to establish the etiology of this difference.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is considered as a dysregulated immune mediated disease. Pericarditis in IBD is a very rare disease both as an extra-intestinal manifestation of IBD and an adverse reaction of therapeutic drug for IBD such as mesalazine or sulfasalazine. A 26-year-old IBD male patient who had been taking mesalazine regularly for about 1 month was referred to our hospital because of fever, chest discomfort, and abnormal electrocardiographic findings. The patients was diagnosed as acute myopericarditis, and recovered after cessation of mesalazine using steroid and aspirin. When mesalazine was re-medicated some days after discharge, he suffered from myopericarditis again. Subsequently, myopericarditis was resolved just after cessation of mesalazine again. These findings suggest that the development of myopericarditis is caused by mesalazine.

BackgroundTo investigate the clinical results of sitagliptin (SITA) and the characteristics of the treatment failure group or of low responders to SITA.MethodsA retrospective study of type 2 diabetic patients reviewed 99 cases, including 12 treatment failure cases, who stopped SITA because of worsening patients' condition, and 87 cases, who continued treatment over five visits (total 9.9±10.1 months) after receiving the prescription of SITA from December 2008 to June 2009. Subjects were classified as five groups administered SITA as an initial combination with metformin (MET), add-on to metformin or sulfonylurea, and switching from sulfonylurea or thiazolidinedione. The changes in HbA1c level from the first to last visit (ΔHbA1c) in treatment maintenance group were subanalyzed.ResultsThe HbA1c level was significantly reduced in four groups, including initial coadministration of SITA with metformin (ΔHbA1c=-1.1%, P<0.001), add-on to MET (ΔHbA1c=-0.6%, P=0.017), add-on to sulfonylurea (ΔHbA1c=-0.5%, P<0.001), and switching from thiazolidinedione (ΔHbA1c=-0.3%, P=0.013). SITA was noninferior to sulfonlyurea (ΔHbA1c=-0.2%, P=0.63). There was no significant adverse effect. The treatment failure group had a longer diabeties duration (P=0.008), higher HbA1c (P=0.001) and fasting plasma glucose (P=0.003) compared to the maintenance group. Subanalysis on the tertiles of ΔHbA1c showed that low-response to SITA (tertile 1) was associated with a longer diabetes duration (P=0.009) and lower HbA1c (P<0.001).ConclusionSITA was effective and safe for use in Korean type 2 diabetic patients. However, its clinical responses and long-term benefit-harm profile is yet to be established.