Suppose a member of your close family has NASH/Cirrhosis. Should you be concerned for your own health?
Would you think about your lifestyle choices if you knew your odds of having liver disease were high?
An interesting study was just released which show that you are 12 times as likely to have fatty liver disease than does a person without a family member suffering from end stage liver disease. Unbelievable? Here is a link to the study.
https://www.healio.com/hepatology/family_risk_of _liver_disease
These data may impact and potentially change clinical practice in increasing awareness of advanced fibrosis in NAFLD in high-risk populations such as those with a first-degree relative with NAFLD-cirrhosis,” the researchers concluded. “Further studies are needed to determine the interval for surveillance after initial screening. The clinical implications of this study are potentially significant, as earlier detection of cirrhosis would perhaps lead to earlier initiation of hepatocellular carcinoma screening and surveillance.” – by Talitha Bennett
Compared with the first-degree relatives of controls, first-degree relatives of patients with NAFLD-related cirrhosis had a higher BMI (31 kg/m2 vs. 25.5 kg/m2), were more likely to be diabetic (15.4% vs. 2.9%), had a higher liver fat content on magnetic resonance imaging of proton density fat fraction (10.7% vs. 2.8%) and had a higher prevalence of NAFLD (74% vs. 8.7%).
The prevalence of advanced fibrosis in the first-degree relatives was 1.4% for those related to study patients without NAFLD, 12% in those related to study patients with NAFLD without fibrosis, and 18% in those related to study patients with NAFLD with cirrhosis .
First-degree relatives of patients with NAFLD-related cirrhosis had a higher risk for advanced fibrosis compared with the control population (OR = 14.9; 95% ). This risk remained significant after adjusting for age, sex, Hispanic ethnicity, BMI and diabetes status (OR = 12.5; 95% ) First-degree relatives of patients with NAFLD-related cirrhosis also had a high risk for cirrhosis compared with controls (OR = 80.85; 95% ).
We can't comment on what role genetics or culture play in this tendency to have a diseased liver but as an individual you should heed the message and consider whether you are in danger?
