Background: Patients with a metabolic disorder like type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are more likely susceptible to liver injury that cause the release of hepatic biomarkers. Determining these liver biomarkers will help to screen and early management of potential liver diseases; however, such studies are scarce in the present study area.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of liver function test abnormality and associated factors among T2DM patients.

Methods: Comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital from January 1, 2018 to April 20, 2018 among 159 T2DM patients and 159 nondiabetic controls. Clinical, lifestyle, anthropometric data and 5ml of blood were collected from all study subjects. Liver function tests (LFTs), lipid profiles and fasting blood sugar were determined by using Mindray BS-200E chemistry analyzer (Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical electronics Co. Ltd, China). Informed written consent was obtained from each participant. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select the study subjects with T2DM patients and nondiabetic controls were selected by age and sex frequency matching with T2DM participants. Binary logistic and bivariate correlation was used to assess association of factors with outcomes and p value of ≤0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: Overall, 53(33.3%) of T2DM had one or more liver test abnormality above the upper limit of the normal (ULN) reference range. Alanine aminotransferase was the most frequently raised liver enzyme in T2DM which was 37(23.3%). The mean value of LFTs was significantly different between T2DM and the control group (P<0.05).  Alcohol drink, sex and age were found to be a significant factor for impairment of LFTs. Being T2DM was an independent predictor of LFTs abnormality (P≤0.012).

Conclusion: The prevalence of abnormal LFTs was higher in T2DM patients than nondiabetic control group. Hence, we recommended the utilization of LFTs to monitor liver problem in T2DM patients.

Keywords: Liver function tests; Diabetes mellitus; Liver disease