RÉSUMÉ
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and occupational stress have been recognized as major public health concerns. We aimed to explore whether occupational stress was associated with NAFLD in a police population.A total of 6559 male police officers were recruited for this prospective study in April 2007. Among them, 2367 eligible subjects participated in follow-up from 2008 to 2011. NAFLD was diagnosed based on standard criteria. Occupational stress was evaluated by Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised scores.The incidence of NAFLD was 31.2% in the entire police. After adjusting for traditional risk factors, moderate occupational stress (MOS), high occupational stress (HOS), and high personal strain (HPS) were risk factors (MOS: hazard ratio [HR]â=â1.237, 95% confidence interval [CI]â=â1.049-1.460; HOS: HRâ=â1.727, 95% CIâ=â1.405-2.124; HPS: HRâ=â3.602, 95% CIâ=â1.912-6.787); and low occupational stress (LOS) and low personal strain (LPS) were protective factors (LOS: HRâ=â0.366, 95% CIâ=â0.173-0.776; LPS: HRâ=â0.490, 95% CIâ=â0.262-0.919) for NAFLD in the entire police cohort. HOS and HPS remained robust among traffic police.HOS and HPS were independent predictors for the development of NAFLD in a Chinese police population. Additional future prospective investigations are warranted to validate our findings.