CHIEF will be among the largest Eastern Asian armed forces cohort, in which physical status was strictly evaluated to follow up the hospitalization events for severe illness.

The association of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components with elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, a marker of hepatic injury, may differ between men and women. However, the sex-specific association in a military young population which has a low prevalence of MetS was unclear. We conducted a cross-sectional examination in 6738 men and 766 women, aged 18–50 years, from the cardiorespiratory fitness study in armed forces (CHIEF) in eastern Taiwan. The components of MetS were defined according to the updated International Diabetes Federation (IDF) ethnic criteria for Asians. Elevated ALT levels were defined as ≥40 U/L for both sexes and ≥30 U/L for women alternatively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the sex-specific association between MetS components and elevated ALT. The prevalence of MetS and elevated ALT in men were 11.9% and 12.7% respectively, and in women were 3.5%, and 3.8% respectively. In men, high-density lipoprotein < 40 mg/dL, blood pressures ≥ 130/85 mmHg, serum triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dL, and waist size ≥ 90 cm were associated with elevated ALT (odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals: 1.59 (1.34–1.90), 1.40 (1.19–1.65), 2.00 (1.68–2.39), and 1.68 (1.38–2.04); all p < 0.001); whereas in women, only fasting plasma glucose ≥ 100 mg/dL was associated with elevated ALT ≥ 40 U/L (OR: 7.59 (2.35–24.51), p = 0.001) and ALT ≥ 30 U/L (2.67 (0.89–7.95), p = 0.08). Our findings suggest that the relationship between metabolic abnormalities and elevated ALT may differ by sex, possibly due to the MetS more prevalent in young adult men than in women.

Background: The Cornell and Sokolow-Lyon electrocardiography (ECG) criteria have been widely used for diagnosing left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with hypertension. However, the correlations of these ECG criteria with LVH were rarely compared in military members who received rigorous training, particularly of the Asian male population. Conclusions: The Cornell ECG criteria for the echocardiographic LVH had better performance than the Sokolow-Lyon criteria in a young military male cohort in Taiwan.

AIMTo investigate the association of chronic hepatitis B and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with physical fitness in a Taiwanese military male cohort.METHODSWe made a cross-sectional examination of this association using 3669 young adult military males according to cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events recorded in the Taiwan Armed Forces study. Cases of chronic hepatitis B (n = 121) were defined by personal history and positive detection of hepatitis B surface antigen. Cases of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (n = 129) were defined by alanine transaminase level > 60 U/L, liver ultrasound finding of steatosis, and absence of viral hepatitis A, B or C infection. All other study participants were defined as unaffected (n = 3419). Physical fitness was evaluated by performance in 3000-m run, 2-min sit-ups, and 2-min push-ups exercises, with all the procedures standardized by a computerized scoring system. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship.RESULTSChronic hepatitis B negatively correlated with 2-min push-up numbers (β = -2.49, P = 0.019) after adjusting for age, service specialty, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, current cigarette smoking, alcohol intake status, serum hemoglobin, and average weekly exercise times. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was borderline positively correlated with 3000-m running time (β = 11.96, P = 0.084) and negatively correlated with 2-min sit-up numbers (β = -1.47, P = 0.040).CONCLUSIONChronic hepatitis B viral infection and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis affects different physical performances in young adult military males, and future study should determine the underlying mechanism.

AIM: To investigate the association of electrocardiographic (ECG) left and/or right ventricular hypertrophy (LVH and RVH) with physical fitness of military males.METHODS: We used a military cohort of 2587 males, who were on average 29.1 years of age, from the cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in armed forces (CHIEF) study in Taiwan for the analysis. Isolated ECG-LVH (n = 779) was diagnosed by either the Sokolow-Lyon or Cornell voltage criteria. Isolated ECG-RVH (n = 234) was defined by either the Sokolow-Lyon or Myers et al. voltage criteria. Combined ECG-LVH/RVH (n = 140) was defined as those who met the voltage criteria for both LVH and RVH. The other ECGs were defined as unaffected (n = 1434). Physical fitness was evaluated by the upper and lower 16% exercise performance (beyond 1-standard deviation) in 3000-meter run, 2-minute sit-ups, and 2-minute push-ups. All procedures were standardized and monitored by unified computerized scoring systems. A multiple logistic regression was used to determine the relationship.RESULTS: Compared with unaffected participants, those with an isolated ECG-LVH were tended to have a better 3000meter run performance (odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals: 1.22 [0.99-1.50], p-value = 0.064) after adjusting for age, service specialty, body mass index, mean blood pressure, smoking status, alcohol intake, hemoglobin level, and exercise frequency. By contrast, those with an isolated ECG-RVH were tended to have a worse 2-minute sit-up performance (OR: 1.46 [0.99-2.16], p-value = 0.054).CONCLUSION: Military males with ECG-LVH and/or ECG-RVH compared to unaffected participants may have diverse exercise performances. However, these observations narrowly failed to reach statistical significance.