Risk factors for liver disease among adults of Mexican descent in the United States and Mexico

Table 2 Age-adjusted means and prevalence of chronic liver disease risk factors

	Male			Female
	Mexico cohort (REF)	NHANES VII Mexico-born	NHANES VII US-born	Mexico cohort (REF)	NHANES VII Mexico-born	NHANES VII US-born
Elevated ALT ( > 40 IU/L)1, %	26.7	22.1	25.2	8.7	8.3	10.2
ALT (IU/L), mean	35.9	35.0	36.0	23.0	23.7	25.3a
Elevated AST ( > 40 IU/L)2, %	11.2	8.4	12.2	5.2	4.6	5.2
AST (IU/L), mean	27.9	30.1	29.5	22.2	23.6a	25.9b
Hepatitis B or C, %	2.6	0.4b	3.0	1.7	0.3b	0.8a
Metabolic syndrome3, %	27.5	23.5	33.4	30.8	28.6	27.6
Elevated total cholesterol (mg/dL)4, %	39.8	48.8b	39.1	36.0	40.5a	40.2a
Total cholesterol (mg/dL), mean	193.6	199.1a	192.7	189.6	193.1a	193.6a
Low HDL cholesterol (HDL < 40)5, %	62.9	35.4b	27.7b	50.1	14.1b	12.0b
HDL cholesterol (mg/dL), mean	37.6	45.1b	46.7b	40.7	52.7b	55.1b
LDL cholesterol (mg/dL), mean	116.5	124.1b	117.2	115.2	110.9	11.5a
Elevated triglycerides6 (mg/dL), %	57.5	35.4b	41.0b	34.5	31.9	23.8b
Triglycerides (mg/dL), mean	202.4	150.0b	173.9a	143.5	132.0a	123.8b
Diabetic7, %	6.3	11.0a	16.1b	6.9	14.4b	11.0a
Overweight (BMI ≥ 25)8, %	48.1	46.3	37.3b	37.2	31.1a	26.7b
Obesity (BMI ≥ 30)9, %	17.1	30.0b	45.0b	19.2	39.2b	46.6b
BMI (kg/m2), mean	26.7	28.3b	30.1b	26.4	29.0b	30.2b
Abdominal obesity10, %	15.8	36.0b	49.0b	48.3	68.3b	67.9b
Waist circumference (cm), mean	91.4	98.7a	103.1b	88.5	94.7b	97.2b
Heavy or binge drinker11, %	38.0	75.1b	71.3b	9.6	33.8b	54.0b
Current smoker12, %	36.9	21.6b	21.9b	20.8	8.2b	14.2b

¹Elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was defined as ALT > 40 IU/L for males and females;

²Elevated alanine aminotransferase (AST) was defined as AST > 40 IU/L for males and females;

³Metabolic syndrome was defined base on the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III criteria;

⁴Elevated total cholesterol was defined as ≥ 200 mg/dL;

⁵Low High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (HDL-C) was defined as < 40 mg/dL;

⁶Elevated triglycerides was defined as ≥ 150 mg/dL;

⁷Diabetes was defined as having a plasma glucose level > 125 mg/dL after a more than 8 h fast, and/or a medical history of diabetes, and/or currently taking medication for diabetes, and/or a random glucose test >200 mg/dL;

⁸Overweight was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 25.0 kg/m²;

⁹Obesity was defined as having a BMI of ≥ 30.0 kg/m²;

¹⁰Abdominal obesity was defined as having a waist circumference > 102 cm for males, and a waist circumference > 88 cm for females;

¹¹Heavy drinking was defined as two to four drinks per day for females and three to four drinks per day for males, and binge drinking was defined as having five or more drinks at one time for both males and females;

¹²Current cigarette smoking was defined as having smoked at least 100 cigarettes and being a current smoker.

^aP value ≤ 0.05;

^bP value ≤ 0.001.