Clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease-related liver cancer: data from a single center, 2010-2019.

Background: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) has become an important cause of liver cancer. The current understanding of MAFLD-related liver cancer is not sufficient, however.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical and metabolic characteristics of inpatients with MAFLD-related liver cancer.

Design: This is a cross-sectional investigation.

Methods: An investigation was conducted to collect the cases of hepatic malignant tumor hospitalized in Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University from 1 January 2010 to December 31 2019. The basic information, medical history, laboratory examination results, and imaging examination results of 273 patients diagnosed with MAFLD-related liver cancer were recorded. The general information and metabolic characteristics of patients with MAFLD-related liver cancer were analyzed.

Results: In total, 5958 patients were diagnosed with hepatic malignant tumor. Among them, liver cancer due to other causes accounted for 6.19% (369/5958), MAFLD-related liver cancer was diagnosed in 273 cases of them. From 2010 to 2019, MAFLD-related liver cancer showed an increasing trend. Among 273 patients with MAFLD-related liver cancer, 60.07% were male, 66.30% were ⩾60 years old, and 43.22% had cirrhosis. The 273 patients were comprised by 38 patients with evidence of fatty liver and 235 patients without evidence of fatty liver. There was no significant difference in the proportions of sex, age, overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes, and the presence of ⩾2 metabolic-related factors between the two groups. In the group without evidence of fatty liver, 47.23% patients had cirrhosis, which was significantly higher than 18.42% in the group with evidence of fatty liver (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: MAFLD-related liver cancer should be considered in liver cancer patients with metabolic risk factors. Half of MAFLD-related liver cancer occurred in the absence of cirrhosis.