Study: Patients with Type 2 Diabetes at Greater Liver Disease Risk

According to new research, patients with type 2 diabetes are at an elevated risk of serious liver disease compared with those without the condition.

A group that included researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Southampton used International Classification of Disease codes to identify incident alcoholic liver disease (ALD), autoimmune liver disease, hemochromatosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and viral liver disease from linked diabetes, hospital, cancer, and death records for individuals aged 40 to 89 in Scotland between 2004 and 2013.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RELATED CONTENT
Liver Cancer Prevalence Linked to Diabetes
Middle-aged Woman With Abnormal Liver Enzyme Levels
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

According to the authors, there were 6,667 and 33,624 first mentions of chronic liver diseases in hospital, cancer, and death records among patients with and without type 2 diabetes, respectively. The mentions of chronic liver diseases in people with type 2 diabetes occurred over the course of approximately 1.8 million person-years, and in people without type 2 diabetes over the course of 24 million person-years.

The most common liver diseases, they noted, were ALD among those without diabetes and NAFLD among those with type 2 diabetes.

Overall, the team found that men with type 2 diabetes are 3 times more likely to have NAFLD than men without diabetes. In addition, the study showed there are fewer cases of type 2 diabetes and liver disease among women, but that women with type 2 diabetes are at 5 times greater risk of NAFLD. Both men and women with NAFLD are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol on the liver and should avoid drinking, the authors add.

Primary care practitioners should be aware of the higher risk of serious liver disease in people with diabetes “so they can inform their patients [and explain] that, as the treatment options for severe liver disease are limited, prevention is the best approach,” said Sarah Wild, PhD, a professor of epidemiology at University of Edinburgh’s Center for Population Health Services, and lead author of the study.

Effective ways of preventing and managing both type 2 diabetes and NAFLD include weight management and regular physical activity, Wild said, adding that “it is important for physicians and patients to be aware that people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with diabetes or obesity are likely to be at particularly high risk of liver damage from alcohol.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Wild S, Morling J, McAllister DA, et al. Type 2 diabetes and risk of hospital admission or death for chronic liver disease [published online January 23, 2016]. J Hepatol. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2016.01.014.