• Yvonne Huber, Christian Labenz, Maurice Michel, Marcus-A Wörns, Peter R Galle, Karel Kostev, and Jörn M Schattenberg.
• Department of Medicine I, University Medical Center MainzMetabolic Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine I, University Medical Center MainzEpidemiology, IQVIA, Frankfurt.
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2020 Oct 23; 117 (43): 719724719-724.

BackgroundThe incidence of cancer is increasing worldwide. The role of comorbidities in this development is debated. The aim of this study was to investigate the significance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) for the incidence of cancer of various kinds in Germany.MethodsBetween 2000 and 2015, data on 31 587 patients with established NAFLD were collected for analysis. A control group (n = 31 587) assembled for comparison was matched for sex, age, treating physician, and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI).ResultsBy 10 years after the index date, 15.3% of patients with NAFLD and 13.4% of patients in the control group had been diagnosed with cancer (p <0.001). Patients with NAFLD exhibited significantly higher rates of male genital cancers (HR 1.26; 95% confidence interval [1.06; 1.5]; p = 0.008), skin cancer (HR 1.22 [1.07; 1.38]; p = 0.002) and breast cancer (HR 1.2 [1.01; 1.43]; p = 0.036). In this analysis, the rate of hepatocellular carcinoma did not differ between patients with NAFLD and patients without NAFLD (0.19% vs. 0.12%; p = 0.204).ConclusionNAFLD slightly increases the risk of breast cancer in women, genital cancer in men, and skin cancer irrespective of sex. Thus, NAFLD can be considered a marker of increased cancer risk.

19 keywords...

hide…