Introduction: Healthy lifestyles are relevant for several diseases, steatohepatitis, although little known, is common in young people. There are reasons to be concerned about homebound college youth who are at risk for steatohepatitis. By restricting the mobility of the population, the risk factors for weight gain and the intake of calorie-dense foods increase, which are elements associated with steatohepatitis.
Objective: To determine the effect of confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic on the degree of steatohepatitis by comparing transient elastography results taken before and after confinement.
Method: Longitudinal study. A sample of 114 young university students of random sex was included. The transient elastography technique (FibroScan) was implemented, determining the degrees of steatosis and hepatic fibrosis by performing the test before and after the confinement of the participants. Student´s t-test was used to analyse the differences in the degrees of steatohepatitis before and after confinement.
Results: the degrees of steatosis during the first sampling were S0 (52.6%), S1 (14.9%), S2 (5.3%) and S3 (27.2%) (m = 250.89, DE= ± 56.91), in the second sampling were presented S0 (56.1%), S1 (13.2%), S2 (5.3%) and S3 (5.4%) (m = 243.81, DE = ± 52.330), the relation of both samples was (p = 0.131). The results in the degrees of fibrosis in the first sampling were F0 (91.4%), F1 (6.1%). F2 (2.6%) (m= 4.80, DE = ±1.11), in the second F1 (95.6%), F2 (3.5) and F2 (0.9%) (m = 4.33, DE = ±1.16) and the relation of the two sampling was (p= 0.000).
Conclusions: The degrees of hepatic fibrosis presented significant changes, on the other hand, steatosis tends to decrease, but the change is not significant, however, it is necessary to investigate with third variables to detect other factors involved in the changes
