Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 7, 2016; 22(13): 3663-3669
Published online Apr 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i13.3663
Prevalence of and risk factors for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a Chinese population: An 8-year follow-up study
Zhen-Ya Lu, Zhou Shao, Ya-Li Li, Muhuyati Wulasihan, Xin-Hua Chen
Zhen-Ya Lu, Department of Internal Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China
Zhen-Ya Lu, Xin-Hua Chen, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China
Zhou Shao, Xin-Hua Chen, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China
Ya-Li Li, Muhuyati Wulasihan, Department of Internal Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830054, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Chen XH designed and coordinated the study; Lu ZY collected the samples and clinical information; Shao Z performed the statistical analysis; Li YL and Wulasihan M carried out the biochemical assays; Lu ZY, Shao Z and Chen XH drafted the manuscript; all authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81372425 and No. 81460634; and the Key Lab Project of the Xinjiang Science and Technology Bureau, No. 2014KL002.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All the participants signed the informed consent statement
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare there is no competing interest.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset related to this manuscript are available from the corresponding author at xinhua_chen@zju.edu.cn. Participants agree to share data on signing the informed consent.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Xin-Hua Chen, MD, PhD, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China. xinhua_chen@zju.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-571-87236570 Fax: +86-571-87236466
Received: November 14, 2015
Peer-review started: November 14, 2015
First decision: December 11, 2015
Revised: December 19, 2015
Accepted: January 11, 2016
Article in press: January 11, 2016
Published online: April 7, 2016
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in a Chinese population.

METHODS: A total of 1948 adults from China was followed for 8 years. A cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the prevalence of NAFLD at baseline, and then the participants were followed for 8 years to investigate risk factors for the development of NAFLD.

RESULTS: A total of 1948 participants were enrolled at baseline, of whom 691 were diagnosed with NAFLD. During the 8-year follow-up, 337 baseline NAFLD-free participants developed NAFLD. They had a greater increase in body mass index (BMI), serum uric acid, fasting plasma glucose, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and a considerable decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. 123 participants who had NAFLD at baseline lost NAFLD during the 8-year follow-up period. They had a greater decrease in BMI, fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase.

CONCLUSION: NAFLD is prevalent in Chinese population with a rapidly increasing tendency. It can be reversed when patients lose their weight, control their hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia, and reduce the liver enzyme levels.

Keywords: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Follow-up, Prevalence, Risk factors

Core tip: This study followed a large sample (n = 1928) for a long term (time = 8 years) to observe the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease due to the lifestyle and nutrition changes in a Chinese population.