Women with concurrent MASLD, alcohol-related liver disease have 83% higher risk for death
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Key takeaways:
- Alcohol-related liver disease was significantly associated with all-cause mortality in both sexes, but more so among women.
- Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease was not linked to death.
Women with concurrent metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and alcohol-related liver disease had an 83% greater risk for all-cause mortality than men and those with ALD alone had 160% greater risk, data showed.
“Steatotic liver disease is a major and increasingly prevalent condition that is likely an underlying precursor to many conditions, including those involving the heart,” Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, lead study author and director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging at Smidt Heart Institute, said in a Cedars-Sinai press release. “We are paying even more attention to steatotic liver disease because we are seeing how it tracks closely with established cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes.”
Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (1988-1994), Cheng and colleagues analyzed data from 10,007 adults (mean age, 42 years; 50.3% women) to investigate the prevalence, risks and mechanisms of steatotic liver disease among women vs. men. Of those included, 1,461 had MASLD, 225 had MASLD and ALD (MetALD) and 105 had ALD. Data included ultrasonographic measures of hepatic steatosis, cardiometabolic risk factors and self-reported alcohol intake.
According to results published in the Journal of Hepatology, there were significant differences in MASLD, MetALD and ALD prevalence among men (18.5%, 3.2% and 1.7%, respectively) vs. women (10.3%, 1.2% and 0.3%).
Over a median follow-up of 26.7 years, there were 2,496 deaths. Multivariable-adjusted survival analysis showed MASLD was not significantly linked with all-cause mortality among men or women; however, MetALD was associated with a 83% higher risk for all-cause mortality among women (HR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.29-2.57) but not men.
Further, ALD was significantly associated with all-cause mortality among both sexes, with a higher magnitude among women (HR = 3.49; 95% CI, 1.86-6.52) compared with men (HR = 1.89; 95% CI, 1.42-2.51).
“These findings are especially concerning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which alcohol use and related death, particularly in women, has increased,” Alan Kwan, MD, a research instructor in the department of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai who also worked on the study, said in the release.
Reference:
- Study: Women with alcohol-related liver disease have greater mortality risk than men with condition. Available at: https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/study-women-with-alcohol-related-liver-disease-have-greater-mortality-risk-than-men-with-condition/. Published Jan. 25, 2024. Accessed Jan. 31, 2024.
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