Applying an equity lens to liver health and research in Europe

Health inequalities in hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, and survival in the United Kingdom: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a deadly cancer in the UK despite advancements in curative therapies. Societal conditions and health inequalities influence the development of chronic liver disease and outcomes from complications including HCC. Scoping this emergent evidence-base is required to inform research and solutions for the NHS.

METHODS

A PRISMA scoping review was performed up to September 2023. Articles exploring health inequalities in HCC involving the UK population were included.

RESULTS

This review has characterised axes of health inequality and their impact across the HCC care continuum in the UK. Studies predominantly employed a cohort design or population-based analyses, with meta-analyses of surveillance utilisation including only a single UK study. These methodologies provided an appropriate lens to understand longitudinal trends and identify disadvantaged groups. However, important evidence gaps remain, including exploration of patient perspectives, intersectional analyses, and statistical measures of socioeconomic inequity in HCC.

CONCLUSIONS

HCC is a rapidly growing cause of cancer mortality and disproportionally affects underserved groups, presenting a major public health concern. Further research is required to innovate and evaluate surveillance and management pathways to reduce systemic inequities. Direction is needed at the national level to improve prevention, early diagnosis and access to curative treatment.

Socioeconomic factors associated with the presence of and outcomes in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The association between socioeconomic factors and disease severity is not well studied in people living with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We thus examined if socioeconomic factors influence the presence of, or risk for future, major adverse liver outcomes (MALOs) in people living with MASLD.

METHODS

We conducted a register-based cohort study that included all individuals with a MASLD diagnosis between 1987 and 2020 in Sweden. Logistic and Cox regression were used to examine the association between socioeconomic factors (country of birth, educational level, and marital status) and the presence of MALOs before or upon MASLD diagnosis or during follow-up, respectively.

RESULTS

In total, 14 026 people living with MASLD were identified, among whom the median age was 55 years, 50% were male and 775 (5.5%) had MALOs before or upon diagnosis. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for pre-existing MALOs was higher in divorced (aOR = 1.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-1.57) compared to married individuals. The aOR for pre-existing MALOs was lower among those with >12 years of education (aOR = .76, 95% CI = .62-.93) compared to individuals with an education level of 10-12 years. During a 5.2-year median follow-up, several socioeconomic factors were associated with increased rates of developing MALOs in a crude model; however, none were independently associated with incident MALOs after adjustment for confounders.

CONCLUSIONS

Socioeconomic factors were associated with somewhat higher odds for prevalent, but not incident, MALOs in people living with MASLD, after adjustments. This suggests primarily that risk factors for fibrosis progression are differently distributed across socioeconomic subgroups.

Material deprivation is associated with liver stiffness and liver-related outcomes in people with HIV

BACKGROUND

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a driver of health disparities and chronic diseases. People with HIV (PWH) are at risk for chronic liver diseases. We evaluated the association between low SES and hepatic outcomes in PWH.

METHODS

We included PWH from a prospective cohort. SES was assessed by the Pampalon material and social deprivation index to classify the cohort into quintiles of deprivation. Multivariable linear regression was used to investigate associations of material and social deprivation with liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) as markers of hepatic fibrosis and steatosis, respectively. Incidence of outcomes was evaluated through survival analysis.

RESULTS

Among the 804 PWH included, 45% and 72% were living in areas of the highest material and social deprivation, respectively. Materially deprived PWH were more frequently female and of non-white ethnicity and had higher prevalence of metabolic comorbidities. After adjustments, material deprivation correlated with increased LSM (β = 1.86, 95% CI 0.53-3.17) but not with CAP (β = 6.47, 95% CI -5.55-18.49). Patients were observed for a median follow-up of 3.8 years. Incidence of liver-related events was higher in most materially deprived compared to most privileged PWH (hazard ratio 3.03, 95% CI 1.03-8.92), while there was no difference in extrahepatic outcomes or all-cause mortality. Social deprivation showed no association with either LSM or clinical outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Living in materially deprived neighbourhoods as a proxy for lower SES, is associated with LSM and liver-related events in PWH. Future strategies should explore mechanisms underlying these relationships and whether enhanced material security improves hepatic outcomes.

Food inequity and insecurity and MASLD: burden, challenges, and interventions

Liver disease prevalence, severity, outcomes and hepatic risk factors (for example, unhealthy diet) are heavily affected by socioeconomic status and food insecurity. Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent liver disease globally and is likely to co-occur with other liver diseases associated with food insecurity. Though weight reduction and adopting a healthy diet can reverse the course of MASLD, gaps between recommendations and practice transcend individual responsibility and preference. Broader sociocultural determinants of food choices (social nutrition) include food insecurity, community and social norms and the local environment, including commercial pressures that target people experiencing poverty, ethnic minorities and children. Food insecurity is a barrier to a healthy diet, as a low-quality diet is often less expensive than a healthy one. Consequently, food insecurity is an 'upstream' risk factor for MASLD, advanced fibrosis and greater all-cause mortality among patients with liver disease. Intervening on food insecurity at four major levels (environment, policy, community and health care) can reduce the burden of liver disease, thereby reducing social and health inequities. In this Review, we report on the current research in the field, the need for implementing proven interventions, and the role liver specialists can have.

Population-Based Study of Alcohol-Related Liver Disease in England in 2001-2018: Influence of Socioeconomic Position

INTRODUCTION

England has seen an increase in deaths due to alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) since 2001. We studied the influence of socioeconomic position on the incidence of ALD and the mortality after ALD diagnosis in England in 2001-2018.

METHODS

This was an observational cohort study based on health records contained within the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink covering primary care, secondary care, cause of death registration, and deprivation of neighborhood areas in 18.8 million residents. We estimated incidence rate and incidence rate ratios of ALD and hazard ratios of mortality.

RESULTS

ALD was diagnosed in 57,784 individuals with a median age of 54 years and of whom 43% had cirrhosis. The ALD incidence rate increased by 65% between 2001 and 2018 in England to reach 56.1 per 100,000 person-years in 2018. The ALD incidence was 3-fold higher in those from the most deprived quintile vs those from the least deprived quintile (incidence rate ratio 3.30, 95% confidence interval 3.21-3.38), with reducing inequality at older than at younger ages. For 55- to 74-year-olds, there was a notable increase in the incidence rate between 2001 and 2018, from 96.1 to 158 per 100,000 person-years in the most deprived quintile and from 32.5 to 70.0 in the least deprived quintile. After ALD diagnosis, the mortality risk was higher for patients from the most deprived quintile vs those from the least deprived quintile (hazard ratio 1.22, 95% confidence interval 1.18-1.27), and this ratio did not change during 2001-2018.

DISCUSSION

The increasing ALD incidence in England is a greater burden on individuals of low economic position compared with that on those of high socioeconomic position. This finding highlights ALD as a contributor to inequality in health.

Proactive case finding of alcohol-related liver disease in high-risk populations: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) is often diagnosed at a late stage when mortality is unacceptably high. Earlier identification of ARLD may lead to reduced alcohol intake, participation in hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance and reduction in liver-related morbidity and mortality. People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are at highest risk of ARLD. The aim of this systematic review was to understand the yield of proactive screening for ARLD amongst high-risk groups.

METHODS

Embase, Medline, Scopus and grey literature were searched for studies describing proactive assessment for alcohol-related liver disease in people with a history of alcohol excess or diagnosed AUD. Outcomes of interest were fibrosis and cirrhosis detection rates, clinical outcomes, portal hypertension evaluation, attendance at follow-up and cost-effectiveness.

RESULTS

Fifteen studies were identified for inclusion from 1115 returned by the search. Four key settings for patient engagement were identified as inpatient addiction services, outpatient addiction services, general acute hospital admissions and community outreach. Of these, acute hospital admissions were the highest yield for cirrhosis at 10.8%-29.6% and community outreach the lowest was 1.2%-2.3%.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeted fibrosis assessment of high-risk populations for ARLD is feasible to conduct and identifies a proportion of patients at risk of advanced liver disease. The highest yield is amongst inpatients admitted with AUD. Prospective work is needed to establish which are the most effective and acceptable screening methods and the impact on long-term outcomes.

Factors associated with high costs of patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: an observational study using the French CONSTANCES cohort

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Despite its high prevalence in the western world metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) does not benefit from targeted pharmacological therapy. We measured healthcare utilisation and identified factors associated with high-cost MASLD patients in France.

METHODS

The prevalent population with MASLD (including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) in the CONSTANCES cohort, a nationally representative sample of 200,000 adults aged between 18 and 69, was linked to the French centralised national claims database (SNDS). Study participants were identified by the fatty liver index (FLI) over the period 2015-2019. MASLD individuals were classified according as "high-cost" (above 90th percentile) or "non-high cost" (below 90th percentile). Factors significantly associated with high costs were identified using a multivariate logistic regression model.

RESULTS

A total of 14,437 predominantly male (69%) participants with an average age of 53 ± SD 12 years were included. They mainly belonged to socially deprived population groups with co-morbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, mental health disorders and cardiovascular complications. The average expenditure was €1860 ± SD 4634 per year. High-cost MASLD cost €10,863 ± SD 10,859 per year. Conditions associated with high-cost were mental health disorders OR 1.79 (1.44-2.22), cardiovascular diseases OR 1.54 (1.21-1.95), metabolic comorbidities OR 1.50 (1.25-1.81), and respiratory disease OR 1.50 (1.11-2.00). The 10% high-cost participants accounted for 58% of the total national health care expenditures for MASLD.

CONCLUSION

Our results emphasize the need for comprehensive management of the comorbid conditions which were the major cost drivers of MASLD.

Inequities in primary liver cancer in Europe: The state of play

Given the increasing burden of liver cancer in Europe, it is crucial to investigate how social determinants of health (SDoH) affect liver cancer risk factors and access to care in order to improve health outcomes equitably. This paper summarises the available evidence on the differential distribution of liver cancer risk factors, incidence, and health outcomes in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom from an SDoH perspective. Vulnerable and marginalised populations have low socio-economic and educational levels and are the most affected by liver cancer risk factors. Reasons for this include varied access to hepatitis B virus vaccination and limited access to viral hepatitis B and C screening, harm reduction, and treatment. Additionally, alcohol-related liver disease remains highly prevalent among individuals with low education, insecure employment, economic instability, migrants, and deprived populations. Moreover, significant variation exists across Europe in the proportion of adults with steatotic liver disease, overweight/obesity, and diabetes, based on geographical area, gender, socio-economic and educational background, and density of ultra-processed food outlets. Inequities in cirrhosis mortality rates have been reported, with the highest death rates among individuals living in socio-economically disadvantaged areas and those with lower educational levels. Furthermore, insufficient healthcare access for key populations with primary liver cancer is influenced by complex healthcare systems, stigmatisation, discrimination, low education, language barriers, and fear of disclosure. These challenges contribute to inequities in liver cancer care pathways. Future studies are needed to explore the different SDoH-interlinked effects on liver cancer incidence and outcomes in European countries. The ultimate goal is to develop evidence-based multilevel public health interventions that reduce the SDoH impact in precipitating and perpetuating the disproportionate burden of liver cancer in specific populations.

Young Adult Physical Activity Trajectories and Midlife Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Importance

Physical activity (PA) is recommended for preventing and treating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Yet, how long-term patterns of intensity-based physical activity, including moderate-intensity PA (MPA) and vigorous-intensity PA (VPA), might affect the prevalence of NAFLD in middle age remains unclear.

Objective

To identify distinct intensity-based PA trajectories from young to middle adulthood and examine the associations between PA trajectories and NAFLD prevalence in midlife.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This population-based cohort of 2833 participants used the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study data. The setting included field clinics in Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Oakland, California. Data analysis was completed in March 2023.

Exposures

PA was self-reported at 8 examinations over 25 years (1985-1986 to 2010-2011) and separately scored for MPA and VPA.

Main Outcomes and Measures

NAFLD was defined as liver attenuation values less than 51 Hounsfield units after exclusion of other causes of liver fat, measured using computed tomography in year 25 (2010-2011).

Results

Among a total of 2833 participants included in the sample, 1379 (48.7%) self-identified as Black, 1454 (51.3%) as White, 1206 (42.6%) as male, and 1627 (57.4%) as female from baseline (1985-1986) (mean [SD] age, 25.0 [3.6] years) to year 25 (2010-2011) (mean [SD] age, 50.1 [3.6] years). Three MPA trajectories were identified: very low stable (1514 participants [53.4%]), low increasing (1096 [38.7%]), and moderate increasing (223 [7.9%]); and 3 VPA trajectories: low stable (1649 [58.2%]), moderate decreasing (1015 [35.8%]), and high decreasing (169 [6.0%]). After adjustment for covariates (sex, age, race, study center, education, smoking status, and alcohol consumption), participants in the moderate decreasing (risk ratio [RR], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.54-0.85) and the high decreasing (RR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.44-0.80) VPA trajectories had a lower risk of NAFLD in middle age, relative to participants in the low stable VPA trajectory. Adjustments for baseline body mass index and waist circumference attenuated these estimates, but the results remained statistically significant. The adjusted RRs across the MPA trajectories were close to null and not statistically significant.

Conclusions and Relevance

This cohort study of Black and White participants found a reduced risk of NAFLD in middle age for individuals with higher levels of VPA throughout young to middle adulthood compared with those with lower VPA levels. These results suggest the need for promoting sustainable and equitable prevention programs focused on VPA over the life course to aid in lowering NAFLD risk.

Healthcare and socioeconomic costs of NAFLD: A global framework to navigate the uncertainties

Left unaddressed, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) will continue to have substantial health, economic and social implications. To address the challenge, a paradigm shift is needed in the way NAFLD is conceptualised. Concerted, collaborative action across medical specialities, industry sectors and governments will be vital in tackling this public health threat. To drive this change, in this review, we present data on the current global healthcare and socioeconomic costs of NAFLD and highlight priority actions. The estimated healthcare costs of patients with NAFLD are nearly twice as high as their age-matched counterparts without the disease and are highest in those with advanced fibrosis and end-stage liver disease. NAFLD is accountable for the highest increase in DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) among all liver diseases globally. NAFLD and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-specific drug therapies are not yet available and there is considerable uncertainty regarding cost, optimal length of treatment, and their impact on liver-related outcomes and mortality. Among the currently available bariatric procedures, sleeve gastrectomy is reported to be the most cost-effective for NASH resolution. Gastric bypass remains very expensive, while data on bariatric endoscopy are limited. Lastly, we propose a global NAFLD/NASH investment framework to guide the development of achievable yet ambitious country-specific targets and strategic actions to optimise resource allocation and reduce the prevalence of NAFLD and NASH. Its focus on high-level inputs will be critical to enabling a political and financial environment that supports clinical-level implementation of NAFLD prevention, treatment and care efforts, across all settings.