Liver Disease and Other Systemic Diseases

The global population is growing older over the next several decades. An essential component to keep people healthy, even with aging, is to prevent chronic disease progression and reduce associated complications. About 80% of older adults have one chronic condition, and 50% have at least two chronic disorders. Efforts to identify strategies to prevent or reduce the risk of chronic diseases and injuries and to widely apply effective interventions must be pursued. Because the liver is the largest solid organ in the human body with multiple functions, including nutrition, metabolism, proteins and biochemicals synthesis, and detoxification, its function is vital for the homeostasis of our body. The impairment of liver function may cause dysfunction or even shut down other systems in our body. Therefore, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the liver disorder is not only a key issue in medical science, but it may also affect the general health and diseases of other body systems in a variety of ways. Finally, causing significant public health and economic losses globally. However, the impact and interactions of liver disorders on the progression, treatments, and prognosis of other systemic disorders, or vice versa, remain largely unknown. Recent studies have demonstrated the interactions between diabetes mellitus and liver diseases, and implying a possible deteriorating effect of diabetes on liver disease progression, treatment outcomes, and hepatic carcinogenesis. These lines of evidence not only verify the need for a better understanding of the interactions between liver and other disorders, but also justify a more extensive exploration of the interactions between liver diseases and other systemic disorders.

In this study, the investigators aim to examine the association of chronic liver diseases (including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease, fatty liver, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma) with other systemic diseases by retrospectively analyzing the data from the Hospital Database of Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation. The investigators will examine the impacts of different systemic diseases on the disease progression and prognosis of Taiwanese patients with liver diseases and vice versa. Moreover, the investigators will also examine the different therapeutic strategies (including western, traditional Chinese medical, surgical or varied treatments) used for the treatments of liver diseases or systemic diseases, and their effects on the disease progression, long-term outcomes and prognosis of patients with chronic liver diseases or other systemic diseases in Taiwan.