OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of fatty liver in Guangzhou and its relation to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, hyperlipidemia and abnormal alanine aminotransferase (ALT).

METHODSA retrospective analysis was made on clinical data of 4365 participants who received health check-up in our hospital.

RESULTSThe prevalence of fatty liver was 18.2%, 19.2% in males and 17.1% in females, respectively. There was no significant difference between males and females (P = 0.07). Among 793 subjects with fatty liver, 440 were males and 353 were females. The prevalence of fatty liver was 16.7% in HBV infection group and 18.3% in the group without HBV infection, no significant difference was seen between these two groups (P = 0.45). The prevalence of fatty liver was 42.1% in hyperlipidemia group, and 11.6% in the group with normal serum triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC), respectively, there was a significant difference between these two groups (P < 0.05). The abnormal ALT was seen in 32.5% of the fattty liver group, which was significantly higher than that (8.6%) in the group without fatty liver (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe prevalence of fatty liver was not significantly different between males and females in Guangzhou. Fatty liver was not related with HBV infection but closely related with age and hyperlipidemia. Fatty liver was a common cause of abnormal ALT.