Comorbidities and Malignancy among NAFLD Patients Compared to the General Population, A Nation-Based Study

(1) Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease. Aims: We aimed to investigate the frequency of comorbidities and malignancies among NAFLD patients compared to the general population. (2) Methods: A retrospective study included adult patients with a NAFLD diagnosi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Naim Abu-Freha, Bracha Cohen, Michal Gordon, Sarah Weissmann, Alexander Fich, Daniela Munteanu, David Yardeni, Ohad Etzion
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-04-01
Series:Biomedicines
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/4/1110
Description
Summary:(1) Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease. Aims: We aimed to investigate the frequency of comorbidities and malignancies among NAFLD patients compared to the general population. (2) Methods: A retrospective study included adult patients with a NAFLD diagnosis. A control group was matched for age and gender. Demographics, comorbidities, malignancies, and mortality were collected and compared. (3) Results: 211,955 NAFLD patients were analyzed in comparison to 452,012 matched general population controls. Significantly higher rates of diabetes mellitus (23.2% vs. 13.3%), obesity (58.8% vs. 27.8%), hypertension (57.2% vs. 39.9%), chronic ischemic heart disease (24.7% vs. 17.3%), and CVA (3.2% vs. 2.8%) were found among NAFLD patients. Patients with NAFLD had significantly higher rates of the following malignancies: prostate cancer (1.6% vs. 1.2%), breast cancer (2.6% vs. 1.9%), colorectal cancer (1.8% vs. 1.4%), uterine cancer (0.4 vs. 0.2%), kidney cancer (0.8% vs. 0.5%), but a lower rate of lung cancer (0.9% vs. 1.2%) and stomach cancer (0.3% vs. 0.4%). The all-cause mortality rate among NAFLD patients was significantly lower in comparison to the general population (10.8% vs. 14.7%, <i>p</i> < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: Higher rates of comorbidities and malignancies among NAFLD patients were observed, but a lower rate of all-cause mortality was found.
ISSN:2227-9059