People with fatty liver disease have almost twice the mortality rate of the general population and are at increased risk of death both from liver diseases and other diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The disease is caused by overweight or obesity and is characterized by excessive accumulation of fat in the liver, which can lead to severe liver damage and liver cancer.

This is a study by the Carolinska Institute in Sweden, published in The Journal of Hepatology.

It is estimated that one in five people in Sweden has fatty liver disease (Masld) and the corresponding number can be up to one in four worldwide.

The investigation

The researchers identified all patients diagnosed with Masld in Sweden between 2002 and 2020, more than 13,000 patients in total, and analyzed the risk of their deaths from various causes compared to the general population.

The overall mortality rate for people with Masld was almost twice as.

The risk was increased for almost all the causes of death studied, but especially for death by liver disease (27 times higher mortality) and liver cancer (35 times higher mortality). However, the most common causes of death were the cardiovascular disease and the non -hepatic cancer, with 54% mortality rates and 47% higher, respectively.

In addition, people with Masld had an increased risk of death from infections and gastrointestinal, respiratory or endocrine diseases, but not from mental illnesses.

“It is important not to focus only on the liver when treating patients with fatty liver disease,” says Haynes Hagstrom, an associate professor at the Department of Medicine of the Carolinska Institute and a doctor at the University Hospital of Carolinska. “A holistic approach and timely intervention that includes different medical specialties may be vital to improving the prognosis of these patients,” he adds.