A case-control study on risk factors for abnormal liver function in middle-aged and elderly adults in Shanghai / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate certain risk factors for and their impact on abnormal liver function in middle-aged and elderly adults.Methods A case-control study was constructed based on the SAGE cohort of 8642 registered residents aged 50 years or over in Shanghai.Of them,137 individuals with abnormal liver function,defined as aspartate transaminase (AST)＞ 40 U/L or alanine aminotransferase (ALT)＞ 40 U/L,were randomly selected as the observation group,while 411 healthy controls were 3 ∶ 1 matched with the cases in the observation group by gender and age (1 year).Face-to-face administered questionnaires and physical examinations were conducted and serum samples were tested for ALT,AST,glucose (GLU),total cholesterol (TC),triglycreide (TG),hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) and anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV Ab).Chi square test and rank sum test were used for single factor analysis,and logistic regression analysis was used for multiple factors.Results The prevalence of HBsAg positive patients was 12.4 ％ (68/548) Univariate analysis showed that hepatitis virus infection and body mass index (BMI) were associated with abnormal liver function (both P＜0.000).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that hepatitis virus infection (OR=1.85,95％ CI1.04 3.29,P-0.036) and obesity (OR=3.60,95％CI1.92-6.73,P＜0.001) increased the risk of abnormal liver function,whereas chronic medication (OR=0.51,95％ CI0.32-0.80,P =0.004) decreased the risk of abnormal liver function.Conclusions Among the study population,hepatitis virus infection and obesity are risk factors for abnormal liver function in middle-aged and elderly people.After adjustment for potential confounders,chronic medication is negatively correlated with abnormal liver function and may be a protective factor for liver function.