[Investigation and analysis of the knowledge of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease among residents in Hebei Province, China].

Objective: To investigate the knowledge of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among medical staff and general population in Hebei Province, China, understand the degree of awareness of NAFLD among residents, standardize the diagnosis and treatment of NAFLD, improve the correct awareness of NAFLD among general population, promote the establishment of a reasonable lifestyle, and scientifically and effectively control the incidence and mortality rates of NAFLD. Methods: The investigation was performed in 30 hospitals and neighboring schools and communities in Hebei Province, and a questionnaire survey on the knowledge of NAFLD was performed for 1 300 medical workers and 2 000 persons from the general population. EpiData3.1 software was used to input data, and SPSS21.0 was used for statistical analysis. The chi-square test was used for comparison of rates between groups. Results: Of all medical staff, 39.0% knew that liver biopsy was the gold standard for the diagnosis of NAFLD; 63.7% thought liver biopsy had the highest diagnostic value, followed by liver ultrasound (61.0%) and liver CT (48.1%); only 1.2% thought improvement of insulin resistance was the preferred treatment for NAFLD. Among 486 medical workers who had participated in the diagnosis and treatment of NAFLD, only 1.2% thought that the patients had good compliance. Of all persons from the general population, 15.2% thought NAFLD was infectious and 58.6% thought NAFLD might progress to liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Of all respondents with body mass index ≥28 kg/m(2), 17.8% did not know that he/she had obesity, and as high as 55.8% were obese or did not control body weight within the past 1 year. Of all NAFLD patients, 50.5% were complicated by hyperlipidemia, 18.5% were complicated by diabetes, and 29.5% were complicated by hypertension; 43.0% had not received standardized treatment, and among the other 57.0% respondents who received treatment, 79.0% were given non-drug treatment such as reasonable diet and physical exercise. In NAFLD patients who were not improved after treatment, the major cause of failure was that they were not able to stick to healthy living habits. Most NAFLD patients were willing to obtain the knowledge of disease through television, website, and newspaper. Conclusion: Medical staff do not have enough awareness of NAFLD, and some of them cannot perform standardized diagnosis and treatment of NAFLD with reference to clinical guidelines. Therefore, the education on NAFLD should be enhanced for medical staff to guide them to perform accurate screening, diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of NAFLD. The general population has low awareness of NAFLD and NAFLD patients have poor treatment compliance, which are important causes of increased incidence rate of NAFLD and disease progression. The general population should be educated about NAFLD to help them establish a reasonable lifestyle.