Table 2.

Factors associated with the presence of carotid plaques and subclinical atherosclerosis

	Subclinical atherosclerosis			Carotid plaques
	Univariate analysis	Multivariate analysis		Univariate analysis	Multivariate analysis
		OR (95%CI)	P value		OR (95%CI)	P value
Age, years	< 0.001			< 0.001
Age > 50 years	< 0.001	1.45 (1.24-1.48)	< 0.001	< 0.001	1.43 (1.21-1.44)	< 0.001
Male sex	0.004		0.336	0.003		0.212
Central obesity	0.008		0.073	0.007		0.141
Tobacco exposure	0.003		0.081	0.002		0.187
Alcohol intake1	0.109		-	0.073		0.929
Arterial hypertension	< 0.001		0.949	< 0.001		0.690
Diabetes mellitus	0.004	1.13 (1.03-1.59)	0.028	0.01		0.082
Dyslipidemia	0.001			< 0.001		0.095
Chronic hepatitis B	0.001	1.23 (1.11-1.41)	< 0.001	0.016	1.18 (1.06-1.34)	0.004
Transient elastography, kPa	0.01		0.090	0.073		0.438
Transient elastography > 5.7 kPa	0.008			0.048
CAP, dB/m	< 0.001		0.989	< 0.001		0.577
CAP > 238 dB/m	< 0.001			< 0.001
AST, IU/mL	0.115		-	0.152		-
AST > 27 IU/mL	0.102			0.131
GGT, IU/mL	< 0.001		0.067	0.001		0.947
GGT > 36 IU/mL	< 0.001			0.001
Triglycerides, mg/dL	0.011		0.059	0.018		0.957
Triglycerides > 106 mg/dL	0.009			0.009
LDL, mg/dL	0.651		-	0.180		-
HOMA index	0.038		0.073	0.278		0.105
HOMA index > 1.2	0.150			0.489
HOMA index > 3	0.002			0.018

Data are given as mean ± SD or as n (%).

¹Significant alcohol intake was defined as > 30 g per day for male and > 20 g per day for female. At the multivariate logistic regression model only patients with available data for all the variables were included. The cut-off for inclusion was a P value < 0.10 in the univariate model. AST: Aspartate transaminase; CAP: Control attenuation parameter; GGT: Gamma glutamyltransferase; CI: Confidence interval; OR: Odds ratio; HOMA: Homeostasis model assessment; LDL: Low-density lipoprotein.