Scientists have warned that a common health condition could raise your risk of dying from heart disease and even cancer by around 50%. This deadly but often silent disease is thought to affect around one in five people in the UK and could significantly increase your chances of dying sooner.
A new study has found that people with fatty liver disease have almost twice the mortality rate of the general population. They have an increased risk of dying from both liver diseases and common diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, the research said.
Also known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), fatty liver disease occurs due to a build-up of fat in the liver. While this does not immediately cause any problems, over time it can lead to severe damage and scarring.
Some patients with MASLD can also go on to experience liver failure or liver cancer. It is particularly dangerous due to the fact it often does not present with symptoms in its early stages.
As part of the study, which was published in The Journal of Hepatology, researchers identified all 13,000 patients diagnosed with MASLD in Sweden between 2002 and 2020. They then analysed their risk of death from different causes compared to the general population.
It was found that the overall mortality rate for people with MASLD was almost twice as high. The risk was elevated for nearly all causes of death studied, but especially for death from liver disease (27 times higher mortality) and liver cancer (35 times higher mortality).
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But, as reported by EurekaAlert, the most common causes of death were cardiovascular disease and non-liver cancer, with mortality rates 54% and 47% higher.
Axel Wester, study author and physician at Karolinska University Hospital, commented: “Many people are not aware that they have fatty liver disease because it rarely causes any symptoms in the earlier stages. Our study shows that people diagnosed with MASLD have an increased risk of dying from many different diseases, not just liver disease.”
On top of this, the study showed that people with MASLD also had an increased risk of dying from infections, gastrointestinal diseases, respiratory diseases, endocrine diseases or external causes. Study author Hannes Hagström added: “It is important that we do not only focus on the liver when treating patients with fatty liver disease.
“A holistic approach and early intervention involving different medical specialities can be crucial to improve the prognosis for these patients.” The NHS warns you are more likely to develop fatty liver disease if you:
- Are obese or overweight – particularly if you have a lot of fat around your waist (an “apple-like” body shape)
- Have type 2 diabetes
- Have a condition that affects how your body uses insulin (insulin resistance), such as polycystic ovary syndrome
- Have an underactive thyroid
- Have high blood pressure
- Have high cholesterol
- Have metabolic syndrome (a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity)
- Are over the age of 50
- Smoke.
However, the health body adds: “But non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has been diagnosed in people without any of these risk factors, including young children.” Symptoms of MASLD don’t tend to appear until the disease has advanced to cirrhosis (scarring of the liver).
Symptoms of cirrhosis may include:
- Feeling tired or unwell all the time
- Loss of appetite or losing weight without trying
- Feeling or being sick
- Tummy pain
- Visible blood vessels on the skin
- Blotchy red palms of the hands – the redness may be harder to see on brown or black skin
- Bleeding or bruising easily
- Itchy skin
- Changes to your fingers, such as them getting wider and curved (clubbed), or white nails
- yellow skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice) – yellowing of the skin may be harder to see on brown or black skin
- Swollen tummy, legs, ankles or feet
- Trembling hands
- Slurred speech
- Feeling confused or difficulty concentrating
- Vomiting blood
- Very dark or black poo.
If you experience any symptoms you should speak to your GP.