Current but not past hepatitis B virus infection is associated with a decreased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in the Chinese population: A case-control study with propensity score analysis.

The relation between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and fatty liver has been addressed by several observational studies, but their results remain controversial. To date, no study has precisely investigated the association of current and past HBV infection with the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the Chinese population. Therefore, we conducted a hospital-based case-control study in southwestern China to clarify this issue. A total of 631 newly ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD cases and 2357 controls were selected from 123 243 consecutive patients admitted to a tertiary-care hospital between January 2015 and December 2016. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A propensity score was developed for adjustment and matching. Subgroup analysis was conducted to identify potential effect modifiers. Current and past HBV infection had an overall prevalence of 9.7% and 55.2%, respectively. In the fully adjusted model, current HBV infection was associated with a decreased risk of NAFLD (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.42-0.95). A similar inverse association was observed in both propensity-score-adjusted (OR 0.58; 95% CI 0.40-0.86) and propensity-score-matched analyses (OR 0.61; 95% CI 0.40-0.92).The inverse association was stronger in patients with hypertension than in those without (Pinteraction  = .018).No significant association between past HBV infection and NAFLD risk was found. In conclusion, current but not past HBV infection is associated with a decreased risk of NAFLD in the Chinese population. The corresponding biological mechanisms remain to be elucidated.

[Evaluation of blood eosinophil in the diagnosis of eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the practice of peripheral blood eosinophil in the diagnosis of eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis(ECRS). METHODS: The correlation between eosinophil count and percentage in peripheral blood and that in topic tissue in 787 patients (the first affiliated hospital of Wenzhou medical university, from Jan. 2013 to Jun. 2016) with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) were retrospectively analysed. The optimal cutoff value of blood eosinophil count and percentage as predictors for ECRS was determined by receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and their diagnostic ability was compared. RESULTS: The positive correlation between eosinophil count and percentage in blood and that in tissue was found respectively in 787 patients with CRS (r=0.450, 0.499, 0.463, 0.465, P<0.01). Although the significant correlation between blood eosinophil count and its count and percentage in tissue was not found after blood leukocyte and tissue eosinophilic inflammation was controlled respectively (r=0.041, P=0.380; r=0.046, P=0.329 and r=0.023, P=0.618; r=0.032, P=0.499), blood eosinophil percentage still showed significant correlation with tissue eosinophil count and percentage, but reduced unequally after that(r=0.383, 0.436 and r=0.153, 0.169, P<0.01). With ROC analysis, the diagnostic ability of optimal cut off values of eosinophil count and percentage varied as the histological criteria for ECRS differed. CONCLUSIONS: Eosinophil in peripheral blood showed significant positive correlation with its tissue infiltration, which may be not strong and easily effected by individual factors.Theoretically, blood eosinophil may have a diagnostic significance as a predictor for ECRS but not practically.