Risk Factors for Liver Dysfunction in Middle Aged Men based on Four Year Health Examination Data

Risk Factors for Liver Dysfunction in Middle Aged Men based on Four Year Health Examination Data: Kumiko TAJIMA, et al. Department of Public Health, Gunma University School of Medicine—In order to develop a better lifestyle improvement program, the relationship between lifestyle and changes in liver function were compared through datal inkage of a sel f -administered questionnaire to the results of annual health examinations over 4 years. In this study, 2,511 male subjects aged 40–69 yr were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Of these, 824 subjects had a health examination in 1993. Two hundred and twenty-eight of these remained within the normal range in liver function tests (LFT) in each of annual health examinations between 1994 and 1996, whereas 63 had worsened LFT results after the initial examination and were therefore called the decreased liver function (DLF) group. Controls age-matched to the DLF group were chosen from the normal l iver function group. Discriminant function analysis was carried out to identify the differences between the DLF group and the control group. The independent variables were selected from the variables which showed significant differences in the univariate analysis, considering multicollinearity. The independent variables used for the discriminant analysis were therefore alcohol consumption, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), BMI and “aggression” by THI. The Wilks’ Lambda value was 0.787 (p value=0.0001). The overall correct identification rate in the discriminant analysis was 75.0%. The results of the present study suggest that men who are heavy dr inkers, hypertensive, obese and aggressive had a high risk of developing liver dysfunction within a few years, even if their LFT values were within normal limits in any single year. (J Occup Health 1998; 40: 339–344) Received Jun 3, 1998; Accepted Oct 12, 1998 Correspondence to: K. Tajima, Department of Public Health, Gunma University School of Medicine, 3–39–22, Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8511, Japan