Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2011 Aug;75(2):240-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.2011.04016.x.
Thyroid dysfunction commonly occurs in the elderly population and overt thyroid dysfunction is associated with some liver abnormalities. This study aimed to investigate the association of thyroid function with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in euthyroid elderly Chinese.
A cross-sectional study was performed among 878 euthyroid elderly Chinese who took their annual healthy examination at Zhenhai Lianhua Hospital, Ningbo, China.
A total of 227 (25·85%) subjects fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of NAFLD. Patients with NAFLD had significantly lower levels of serum-free thyroxine (FT4) than controls (11·12 ± 1·43 vs 11·58 ± 1·47 pmol/l; P < 0·001). The prevalence rate of NAFLD decreased along with progressively higher serum FT4 levels (P for trend < 0·001). Age, gender and smoking status-adjusted correlation analysis showed that serum FT4 level was negatively correlated with body mass index, waist circumference, triglyceride and serum uric acid levels (All with P < 0·05). Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that serum FT4 level was significantly associated with the risk for NAFLD [odds ratio (OR): 0·847, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0·743 - 0·966; P = 0·013].
Our findings suggest that thyroid function, even within the reference range, is associated with NAFLD in elderly Chinese.
甲状腺功能障碍在老年人群中很常见，显性甲状腺功能障碍与一些肝脏异常有关。本研究旨在探讨甲状腺功能与中国老年甲状腺功能正常人群中非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）的关系。
对在中国宁波镇海莲华医院进行年度健康检查的 878 例甲状腺功能正常的老年中国人进行了横断面研究。
共有 227 例（25.85%）患者符合 NAFLD 的诊断标准。与对照组相比，NAFLD 患者的血清游离甲状腺素（FT4）水平显著降低（11.12±1.43 比 11.58±1.47 pmol/L；P＜0.001）。随着血清 FT4 水平的逐渐升高，NAFLD 的患病率呈下降趋势（P 趋势＜0.001）。经年龄、性别和吸烟状况校正的相关分析显示，血清 FT4 水平与体重指数、腰围、甘油三酯和血尿酸水平呈负相关（均 P＜0.05）。逐步逻辑回归分析显示，血清 FT4 水平与 NAFLD 的发病风险显著相关（比值比：0.847，95%置信区间：0.743-0.966；P=0.013）。
我们的研究结果表明，即使在参考范围内，甲状腺功能也与中国老年人群中的 NAFLD 有关。
