부산대학교 도서관

We aimed to investigate the association between air pollution and advanced fibrosis among patients with metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. A total of 1376 participants who were seropositive for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) or antibodies to HCV (anti‐HCV) or had abnormal liver function in a community screening program from 2019 to 2021 were enrolled for the assessment of liver fibrosis using transient elastography. Daily estimates of air pollutants (particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM[sub.2.5] ], nitrogen dioxide [NO[sub.2] ], ozone [O[sub.3] ] and benzene) were aggregated into mean estimates for the previous year based on the date of enrolment. Of the 1376 participants, 767 (52.8%) and 187 (13.6) had MAFLD and advanced fibrosis, respectively. A logistic regression analysis revealed that the factors associated with advanced liver fibrosis were HCV viremia (odds ratio [OR], 3.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.05–4.77; p < 0.001), smoking (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.16–2.74; p = 0.01), age (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02–1.05; p < 0.001) and PM[sub.2.5] (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.05–1.16; p < 0.001). Linear regression analysis revealed that LSM was independently correlated with PM[sub.2.5] (β: 0.134; 95% CI: 0.025, 0.243; p = 0.02). There was a dose‐dependent relationship between different fibrotic stages and the PM[sub.2.5] level (the PM[sub.2.5] level in patients with fibrotic stages 0, 1–2 and 3–4: 27.9, 28.4, and 29.3 μg/m[sup.3] , respectively; trend p < 0.001). Exposure to PM[sub.2.5] , as well as HBV and HCV infections, is associated with advanced liver fibrosis in patients with MAFLD. There was a dose‐dependent correlation between PM[sub.2.5] levels and the severity of hepatic fibrosis.
Abbreviations INTRODUCTION Liver fibrosis is a wound repair response caused by various chronic liver injuries that may further develop into liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), causing significant morbidity and [...]