Association between Blood Mercury Levels and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Non-Obese Populations: The Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) 2012–2014

Mercury is widely distributed in the environment, and a plausible association between mercury exposure and hepatic damage has been reported. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which comprises a spectrum of liver diseases, has recently been recognized in non-obese subjects. However, there hav...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-06, Vol.18 (12), p.6412
Main Authors: Yang, Yun-Jung, Yang, Eun-Jung, Park, Kyongjin, Oh, Subin, Kim, Taehyen, Hong, Yeon-Pyo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blood
Body mass
Body mass index
Body size
Body weight
Diabetes
Education
Environmental health
Family income
Fatty liver
Health surveys
Hepatitis
Households
Hypertension
Liver
Liver diseases
Mercury
Multivariate analysis
Obesity
Overweight
Oxidative stress
Polls & surveys
Population
Questionnaires
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Seafood
Steatosis
Urine
Womens health
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Summary:Mercury is widely distributed in the environment, and a plausible association between mercury exposure and hepatic damage has been reported. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which comprises a spectrum of liver diseases, has recently been recognized in non-obese subjects. However, there have been no studies on the relationship between internal mercury levels and NAFLD in non-obese individuals. Therefore, we investigated the association between blood mercury levels and NAFLD in non-obese subjects. Cross-sectional data (n = 5919) were obtained from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (2012–2014). NAFLD was defined using the hepatic steatosis index (HSI). Blood mercury levels were log-transformed and divided into quartiles based on a weighted sample distribution. The association between blood mercury levels and NAFLD was analyzed using a multivariate logistic analysis after body mass index stratification. The geometric mean of blood mercury in the overweight group was significantly higher than that of the non-obese group (p < 0.001). The weighted frequencies of patients with NAFLD based on the HSI were 3.0–7.2% for the non-obese subjects and 52.3–63.2% for the overweight subjects. In the multivariate analysis, blood mercury levels were positively associated with NAFLD for both the overweight and non-obese groups (all p for trend < 0.001). Increased blood mercury levels are closely associated with NAFLD. In particular, mercury could be a risk factor for NAFLD in the non-obese population.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph18126412