This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Metabolic syndrome a significant risk factor for liver cancer

Welzel TM. Hepatology. 2011;doi:10.1002/hep.24397.

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Patients with metabolic syndrome had a twofold higher risk for hepatocellular carcinoma and a 1.56-fold increased risk for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, according to results of a new study.

Using information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, Tania Welzel, MD, of the National Cancer Institute and Klinikum der J.W. Goethe-Universität in Germany, and colleagues examined the association between metabolic syndrome and development of these primary liver cancers. Those diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; n=3,649) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC; n=743) between 1993 and 2005 were included. The researchers compared the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and other risk factors for HCC and ICC among those with cancer and a 5% sample of people from the same regions as the SEER registries who did not develop cancer (n=195,953).

Metabolic syndrome was present among 37.1% of HCC cases and 29.7% of ICC cases vs. 17.1% of those in the comparison group (P<.0001). In addition, multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with an increased risk for HCC (OR=2.13; 95% CI, 1.96-2.31) and ICC (OR=1.56; 95% CI, 1.32-1.83).

“The risk of developing these primary liver cancers is significant for individuals with this condition,” Welzel said in a press release. “Due to the high prevalence of metabolic syndrome, even small increases in the absolute risk for HCC and ICC may contribute to the increasing liver cancer burden.”

Follow HemOncToday.com on Twitter.