An epidemiologic study of prevalence and associated factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the Taiwanese police service
研究了台湾台北警察人群中非酒精性脂肪肝的患病率，发现男性患病率高于女性，且与高尿酸、高ALT、高胆固醇和高甘油三酯相关，但女性中这些关联不显著。
<h3>Objectives</h3> To explore any gender-related differences in prevalence of and condition-associated factors related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) amongst police population in Taipei, Taiwan. <h3>Methods</h3> We studied a total of 1016 healthy adults with police work (972 males and 44 females) voluntarily admitted to physical check-up between January 2006 and December 2006. Blood samples and ultrasound-proved fatty liver sonography results were collected. <h3>Results</h3> The prevalence of NAFLD for this subpopulation was found to be 52.2%, the prevalence revealing a statistically significant decrease with increasing population age (p<0.001). Males exhibited a greater prevalence of NAFLD than did females (53.6% vs 20.5%, p<0.0001). Using multiple logistic regression analysis, in addition to male gender, an older age, higher BMI, higher ALT, presence of hyperuricaemia, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridaemia were the significant factors associated with NAFLD. Gender-related differences as regards associated factors were also revealed. For males, hyperuricaemia (OR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.86), higher ALT (OR=2.31, 95% CI: 1.50 to 3.56), hypercholesterolemia (OR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.82), and hypertriglyceridaemia (OR=1.55, 95% CI: 1.01 to 2.37) were significantly related to NAFLD but these were not so for females. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Several gender-related differences were noted pertaining to the prevalence of and relationship between hyperuricaemia, higher ALT, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridaemia and NAFLD in the present study.