Association of different types of liver disease with demographic and clinical factors

BACKGROUND AND AIM: A metric that predicts the presence of cancer-related liver disease would allow early implementation of treatment. We compared the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with no evidence of liver disease, with a cancer-associated liver disease, and with a liver disease not associated with cancer. METHODS: Retrospective, hospital-based, cross-sectional study which reviewed the medical records of subjects who underwent health examinations at a Taiwanese hospital from 2000 to 2004 and who had normal levels of amino transaminases. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate statistics. RESULTS: A total of 2344 subjects had no evidence of liver disease (non-LD), and 1918 subjects had at least one liver disease (LD). The LD group was further divided into those with a cancer-associated liver disease (LD-1, n = 1632) and those with a liver disease not associated with cancer (LD-2, n = 286). Age, BMI, percentage of males, globulin:albumin ratio (G/A), percentage of patients with gallstones, AST, and ALT were significantly higher in the LD group. Univariate analysis showed that the G/A was significantly higher in the LD-2 group than the LD-1 group; multivariate analysis indicated that the G/A was not independently associated with liver disease, but that subjects who were older and had higher BMI were significantly more likely to have a cancer-associated liver disease. Conclusions: For patients with liver disease, a multivariate model can be used to distinguish those with a cancer-associated liver disease from those with a liver disease not associated with cancer.