Recall of a Cohort of Subjects in the Mediterranean Area. Monitoring of Liver Diseases (NUTRIHEP 3).

Liver diseases represent a significant public health problem, with a high prevalence and a growing incidence worldwide, and a significant impact on global morbidity and mortality, causing approximately 2 million deaths annually. Deaths are largely attributable to complications of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The most common causes of cirrhosis worldwide are related to viral hepatitis, alcohol, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by poor dietary habits. Regarding the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the vaccination program, together with the improvement of socioeconomic conditions and greater public awareness, have progressively reduced the incidence and prevalence of this viral disease. Chronic hepatitis related to the hepatitis C virus (HCV), after an increase in the 1980s and 1990s, is showing a decreasing trend, particularly among younger age groups. While other studies have focused on liver diseases of metabolic origin, the most recent epidemiological data concerning the Italian population were collected in the late 1990s. Since a decade has now passed, it was thought that it might be interesting to collect new data on the prevalence pattern of liver diseases, especially in southern Italy, particularly in a municipality equally geographically distant from both the coast and the inland. Therefore, this observational study aims to analyze the evolution of liver diseases through the recall of a cohort of patients already identified in the Mediterranean area. The cohort is composed of individuals residing in the municipality of Putignano (BA) who have already undergone evaluation of liver function, comorbidities and dietary habits, in addition to adding genetic information through genome-wide association (GWAS) analyses, useful for identifying associations between genetic variants and specific phenotypic characteristics