Patients with MAFLD have 4.7 times higher risk of developing liver cancer
The research team of Prof. Seogsong Jeong announced the research results on the correlation between MAFLD and liver cancer
image: (From Left) Prof. Seogsong Jeong of Korea University College of Medicine, co-corresponding author Sang Min Park of Department of Family Medicine, SNU Hospital, and professor Won Kim of Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center
Credit: Korea University Medicine
A research result was announced 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 Department of Biomedical Informatics, Korea University College of Medicine, and his research team (lead author Seogsong Jeong of Korea University College of Medicine, co-corresponding author Sang Min Park of Department of Family Medicine, SNU Hospital, and professor Won Kim of Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center) analyzed changes in MAFLD status based on fatty liver index and cardiovascular metabolic risk factors using the NHIS database.
The research team followed up on a total of 5,084,110 subjects who got health checkups every 2 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 4 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.
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 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 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."
This research was published in the online version of the international academic journal: "Clinical and Molecular Hepatology (IF=14)".