Table 2.

Meat consumption and risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

	Cases	Person years	Age-adjusted HR (95% CI)	Model 1 multivariable-adjusted HR (95% CI)1	Model 2 multivariable-adjusted HR (95% CI)2
Total red meat
≤1 serving/week	99	83394	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
2–4 servings/week	451	266690	1.35 (1.09, 1.68)	1.20 (0.97, 1.50)	1.02 (0.82 to 1.27)
5–6 servings/week	1064	510348	1.64 (1.33, 2.01)	1.31 (1.06, 1.61)	0.995 (0.81 to 1.23)
1 serving/day	554	234477	1.90 (1.54, 2.36)	1.41 (1.13, 1.75)	0.995 (0.80 to 1.24)
≥2 servings/day	962	349728	2.33 (1.90, 2.87)	1.52 (1.23, 1.89)	0.999 (0.81 to 1.24)
Per 1 serving/day increase			1.82 (1.66, 2.01)	1.31 (1.18, 1.46)	0.99 (0.89, 1.10)
P for trend3	..	..	< 0.0001	< 0.0001	0.855
Unprocessed red meat
≤1 serving/week	148	119702	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
2–4 servings/week	943	472669	1.53 (1.28, 1.81)	1.32 (1.11, 1.57)	1.12 (0.94 to 1.34)
5–6 servings/week	1293	579591	1.70 (1.43, 2.02)	1.32 (1.11, 1.56)	1.02 (0.85 to 1.21)
1 serving/day	419	153351	2.19 (1.82, 2.64)	1.52 (1.25, 1.84)	1.09 (0.90 to 1.32)
≥2 servings/day	327	119324	2.36 (1.94, 2.86)	1.50 (1.23, 1.84)	1.02 (0.83 to 1.25)
Per 1 serving/day increase			1.89 (1.68, 2.13)	1.29 (1.13, 1.47)	0.95 (0.83, 1.09)
P for trend3	..	..	<0.0001	0.0002	0.482
Processed red meat
< 1 serving/month	114	107908	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
1–3 servings/month	409	247377	1.29 (1.04, 1.58)	1.16 (0.94, 1.43)	1.01 (0.82 to 1.24)
1 serving/week	626	320486	1.49 (1.22, 1.83)	1.24 (1.01, 1.52)	0.99 (0.81 to 1.21)
2–4 servings/week	1506	607929	1.88 (1.55, 2.27)	1.41 (1.16, 1.71)	1.04 (0.86 to 1.27)
≥ 5 servings/week	475	160938	2.43 (1.98, 2.98)	1.56 (1.26, 1.92)	1.06 (0.85 to 1.31)
Per 1 serving/day increase			3.50 (2.84, 4.31)	1.80 (1.44, 2.26)	1.12 (0.89, 1.41)
P for trend3	..	..	< 0.0001	< 0.0001	0.326
Poultry
< 1 serving/month	42	27746	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
1–3 servings/month	87	61084	1.01 (0.70, 1.46)	0.86 (0.59, 1.24)	0.83 (0.57 to 1.20)
1 serving/week	1147	586029	1.18 (0.87, 1.61)	0.99 (0.73, 1.35)	0.86 (0.63 to 1.17)
2–4 servings/week	1470	633099	1.35 (0.99, 1.84)	1.12 (0.82, 1.52)	0.88 (0.65 to 1.20)
≥5 servings/week	384	136679	1.65 (1.20, 2.26)	1.28 (0.92, 1.76)	0.91 (0.66 to 1.25)
Per 1 serving/day increase			1.68 (1.44, 1.97)	1.49 (1.26, 1.75)	1.08 (0.91, 1.27)
P for trend3	--	--	< 0.0001	< 0.0001	0.397
Fish
< 1 serving/month	341	188460	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)	1 (Reference)
1–3 servings/month	935	458116	0.94 (0.83, 1.06)	0.93 (0.82, 1.05)	0.93 (0.82 to 1.06)
1 serving/week	1041	463365	0.96 (0.85, 1.08)	0.98 (0.86, 1.11)	0.99 (0.87 to 1.12)
2–4 servings/week	778	312690	0.97 (0.85, 1.10)	1.02 (0.90, 1.17)	1.02 (0.89 to 1.16)
≥ 5 servings/week	35	22007	0.69 (0.49, 0.98)	0.78 (0.55, 1.11)	0.80 (0.56 to 1.13)
Per 1 serving/day increase			0.82 (0.55, 1.24)	1.08 (0.71, 1.66)	1.07 (0.70, 1.64)
P for trend3	--	--	0.349	0.718	0.749

HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval.

¹Adjusted for smoking status (never, past, current), total calories (continuous, kcal), menopausal hormone therapy (never, past, current, premenopausal), type 2 diabetes (yes or no), hypertension (yes or no), dyslipidemia (yes or no), physical activity (MET-hours/week, quintiles), regular use of aspirin (yes/no), fruits consumption (quartiles), vegetable consumption (quartiles), and race (white or non-white).

²Adjusted for all covariates in Model 1, and additionally adjusted for current body mass index (<25, 25–29.9, 30+ kg/m²).

³Calculated using the median value of each meat intake category as a continuous variable.