Liver-related events, cardiovascular outcomes elevated in steatotic liver disease patients

Individuals with steatotic liver disease are at an increased risk of developing liver-related events, liver cancer, and cardiovascular outcomes, reveals a study.

Specifically, the risk of liver-related events is progressively greater among those with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction- and alcohol-associated liver disease (MetALD), and alcohol-associated liver disease, respectively.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the investigators searched the databases of Medline and Embase for studies on liver-related events, cardiovascular outcomes, and mortality across steatotic liver disease subtypes published between January 2023 and August 2024.

Thirteen studies, including a total of 17.6 million patients, met the eligibility criteria. Of the participants, 6.8 million had a diagnosis of steatotic liver disease.

In subtype analysis, liver-related events and composite cardiovascular outcomes significantly increased across all steatotic liver disease subtypes compared with nonsteatotic liver disease.

Patients with MetALD and alcohol-associated liver disease showed a higher risk of all-cause mortality than those with nonsteatotic liver disease. Compared with MASLD, both MetALD and alcohol-associated liver disease correlated with a higher risk of liver-related events, while alcohol-associated liver disease significantly increased the risk of all-cause mortality.

In sensitivity analysis, some mortality outcomes were no longer significant.

“Misclassification may be introduced when using different diagnostic methods, leading to changes in outcomes,” the investigators said. “These findings validate the impact of the new classification in predicting outcomes.”