Fatty liver disease and the risk of erosive oesophagitis in the Korean population: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: To investigate an association between fatty liver disease (FLD) and erosive oesophagitis. DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a cross-sectional study of subjects selected from examinees who underwent health check-up, including oesophagogastroduodenoscopy in one hospital between 2004 and 2011. Erosive oesophagitis was classified according to the Los Angeles classification and FLD was diagnosed with ultrasonography. The anthropometric and laboratory data of the subjects were analysed using χ(2) test and multivariate logistic regression. Additionally, we have analysed our data with two-stage least square estimation using the Baltagi-Chang one-way model to clarify unobserved confounding variable. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: The effect of FLD on erosive oesophagitis. RESULTS: Among the 14 723 eligible subjects, 4232 (28.7%) subjects diagnosed with FLD were classified into the fatty liver group and 10 491 (71.3%) subjects without FLD were classified into the non-fatty liver group. The incidence rate of erosive oesophagitis was significantly higher in the fatty liver group than in the non-fatty liver group (10.4%vs6.1%, p<0.0001). The multivariate analysis revealed that the fatty liver group was significantly associated with erosive oesophagitis (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.37, p=0.016). CONCLUSION: FLD diagnosed by ultrasonography is an independent risk factor of erosive oesophagitis. It suggests that FLD-related metabolic abnormality may be associated with erosive oesophagitis.