Patients with MAFLD have 4.7 times higher risk of developing liver cancer, study finds

Research has revealed that in the case of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), the risk of developing liver cancer is 4.7 times higher.

Professor Seogsong Jeong of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Korea University College of Medicine, and his research team analyzed changes in MAFLD status based on fatty liver index and cardiovascular metabolic risk factors using the NHIS database.

The study was published in the online version of the journal Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.

The research team followed up on a total of 5,084,110 subjects who got health checkups every two years (2009–2010, 2011–2012) from 2009 to 2012 until they were diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, died, or followed up until December 31, 2020.

The subjects were divided into four categories:

• if the disease is not present continuously
• if MAFLD was present at the time of the first health checkup but disappeared at the time of the second checkup
• if MAFLD occurs newly
• or if MAFLD is present continuously, which helps in analyzing the correlation between the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma

A total of 4,801 subjects developed new hepatocellular carcinoma, and those with persistent MAFLD had the highest risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. The incidence rate was 4.7 times higher than that of subjects without the disease.

As for the newly diagnosed cases of MAFLD and in cases where MAFLD disappeared at the second checkup, significant increases in risk were also observed. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma increased by 2.3 times and 2.2 times, respectively.

Furthermore, patients who recovered from MAFLD showed a higher incidence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma than those without the disease. This suggests that additional information can be provided to further refine the assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma risk in patients with MAFLD.

Professor Seogsong Jeong of the Department of Biomedical Informatics said, “Our research findings provide important clues to better understand and manage the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with MAFLD.”

Provided by
Korea University College of Medicine