| Abstract: | BACKGROUND: Many basic mechanistic studies found that aspirin inhibited multiple pathways involved in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development. AIM: To investigate an association between aspirin use and NAFLD prevalence in the general US population. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). We included 11 416 adults aged 20-74 years who underwent ultrasonography; of those, 2889 were identified as having NAFLD and 8527 as controls. Aspirin use during the month prior to interview was categorised as never use (0 times), occasional use (1-14 times) and regular use (≥15 times). RESULTS: In the multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis, regular relative to no aspirin use was inversely associated with prevalent NAFLD [odds ratio (OR) = 0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.51-0.74; P for trend = 0.04], a finding that was primarily limited to men (OR = 0.32, 95% CI 0.23-0.45; P for interaction < 0.01) and those who were older (>60 years) (OR = 0.21, 95% CI 0.14-0.30; P for interaction < 0.01). CONCLUSION: These findings, from the first human study to investigate an association of aspirin use with NAFLD, suggest that regular aspirin use (≥ 15 times per month) may be associated with a lower prevalence of NAFLD, primarily among men and older patients. |
