Risk Factors for Liver Disease Cluster Geographically: A Precision Public Health Analysis of a UK City

TL;DR

Liver disease risk factors like alcohol use and obesity cluster in certain areas of Leeds, highlighting health inequalities and guiding public health efforts.

Contribution

This study identifies geographic clustering of liver disease risk factors in a UK city using anonymized health data.

Findings

Liver disease risk factors cluster geographically in Leeds.

Areas with high deprivation, alcohol use, and obesity also have higher liver disease incidence.

Liver blood tests are more common in areas with lower disease prevalence.

Abstract

These data describe the distribution of risk factors for liver disease in Leeds, a large city in the UK. Anonymised, unlinked data were aggregated to lower super output areas by the Leeds GP data extraction programme for deprivation, obesity, diabetes and alcohol use. Incident liver disease was quantified from coding of hospital admissions. Alcohol use, deprivation and obesity were associated with LD. Risk factors clustered together geographically. Liver blood tests were more frequently done in areas of low‐disease prevalence. These results illustrate health inequalities and support public health policies to reduce incident liver disease.

Admissions to hospital due to liver disease are not distributed evenly across the city, but tend to cluster in particular areas that also tend to have high rates of deprivation, alcohol use, obesity and diabetes. This can guide public health efforts to prevent liver disease or initiatives to detect liver disease at an earlier stage.

Figures