Relationship between Adult Liver and Spleen Sizes from Sonographic Measurements with Body Mass Index (BMI) in a Nigerian Cross-Section Population in Jos

Abstract

The Liver and the Spleen are two of the main body organs are normally examined among others in all abdominal   ultrasound scans. The correlation between the sizes of these two body organs with Height, Weight, Age and Body Mass Index (BMI) have been investigated with ultrasonic measurements of 50 normal scan data of a cross-section of Nigerian population in Jos. It was found that the liver span significantly correlated with body weight (r = 0.369, p < 0.01) and BMI (r = 0.351, p < 0.05) while the Splenic length significantly correlated with only BMI (r = 0.333, p < 0.05). The age range of the subjects was from 16 –70 years with mean age of 32.98 ± 12.20 years while the mean BMI was 23.16 ± 3.84 kg/m². The mean Liver span and Splenic length were found to be 13.46 ± 1.14 cm and 9.79 ± 0.96 cm respectively. The Liver/Spleen Ratio was computed to be approximately 1.4 for the adult Nigerian population in Jos. There were no significant difference in both the Liver span and the Splenic length between the males and the females but males have larger Liver span and Splenic length compared to females. Linear Regression relationships between Liver span and splenic length with BMI as well as between Liver span and Splenic length were established.

Keywords: Liver Span, Splenic Length, Body Mass Index, (BMI), Liver/Spleen Ratio.