Prevalence and Risk Factors for the Development of... : Official journal of the American College of Gastroenterology | ACG (original) (raw)

Liver

Prevalence and Risk Factors for the Development of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in a Nonobese Chinese Population: the Zhejiang Zhenhai Study

Xu, Chengfu MD1, 4; Yu, Chaohui MD, PhD1, 4; Ma, Han MD1; Xu, Lei MD1, 2; Miao, Min MD3; Li, Youming MD1

1 Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

2 Department of Gastroenterology, Ningbo No. 1 Hospital, Ningbo, China

3 Department of Internal Medicine, Zhenhai Lianhua Hospital, Ningbo, China

Correspondence: Youming Li, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou 310003, China. E-mail: [email protected]

4 The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL accompanies this paper at https://links.lww.com/AJG/A780

Received 27 October 2012; accepted 4 March 2013

published online 9 April 2013

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

The precise prevalence and risk factors for the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in nonobese adults remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of NAFLD and risk factors for its development in a nonobese Chinese population.

METHODS:

We firstly investigated the prevalence and factors associated with the presence of NAFLD in nonobese (body mass index (BMI) <25 kg/m2) Chinese subjects via a cross-sectional study, and then analyzed the risk factors for the development of NAFLD via a subsequent prospective 5-year follow-up of the same population.

RESULTS:

A total of 6,905 nonobese subjects were enrolled in the cross-sectional study. Baseline evaluation revealed that the prevalence of NAFLD was 7.27%. A total of 5,562 subjects who were free of NAFLD at baseline completed the follow-up study, and 494 (8.88%) had developed NAFLD during the 5-year follow-up. Further analyses revealed that age, gender, BMI, waist circumference, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, serum uric acid, hemoglobin, and platelet count were independently associated with the presence and development of NAFLD.

CONCLUSIONS:

NAFLD is prevalent in the nonobese Chinese population, and a substantial proportion of subjects developed NAFLD over the 5-year follow-up period. Special attention should be paid to the factors associated with the presence and development of NAFLD in nonobese subjects, to improve prevention and management of NAFLD.