Only one-third of referrals for fatty liver disease are on time: real-world study reveals opportunities to avoid unnecessary and delayed referrals.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Fatty liver disease is a global health concern, but in the absence of specific guidelines, current referral patterns differ according to the preferences of the general practitioners. Outpatient Gastroenterology clinics spend futile resources on liver-healthy patients while diagnosing decompensated patients delayed. We aimed to describe referral patterns to a regional outpatient Gastroenterology clinic.

METHODS

We reviewed 9684 referrals from primary care for suspected liver disease in the years 2016-2017, during two years. Data were extracted from the patients' hospital records to assess the clinical workup and patient outcomes until a mean of 43 months after the time of referral. Referrals were categorized as unnecessary (no signs of liver disease), timely (significant fibrosis/compensated cirrhosis), or delayed (decompensated cirrhosis).

RESULTS

We included 375 patient referrals from primary care. The main reason for referral was elevated transaminases. More than half (54%) of patients had no signs of liver disease, being unnecessarily referred for evaluation, while 17% had decompensated liver disease and were thus referred too late.

CONCLUSIONS

Only one-third of patients referred on suspicion of liver disease were referred on time, either before presenting with decompensated liver cirrhosis or with some evidence of significant liver disease, e.g., liver fibrosis. There is a huge unmet need for clinical referral pathways in primary care. Strengths and Limitations of this StudyA strength of this study is the complete mapping of all potential referrals to the outpatient clinic in the two-year period. Instead of retrieving the historic data by ICD-10 diagnosis codes, and reflecting only those patients where the GP clearly suspects liver disease, we have a strong reliance on our methods. We screened all potentially relevant referrals, e.g., referrals due to weight loss or fatigue, which may reflect symptoms of cirrhosis. Thereby we are confident that we have not missed any patients that originally were referred with unspecific symptoms, but after evaluation are diagnosed with liver disease.Another strength of our study is the long follow-up period, which allows us to fully evaluate the course for the individual patient, and the potential later coming diagnoses.Finally, it is a strength of the study that we were not exclusive to one liver disease etiology, both ALD and NAFLD etiology were included in the study.A limitation of this study is the use of historic data, and the fact that it is a single-center study, showing only the referral patterns in one outpatient Gastroenterology clinic.