Background: The relationships between alcohol consumption, cardiometabolic factors, and liver fibrosis in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and those with metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-associated liver disease remain unclear.
Aims: To investigate the longitudinal associations among alcohol consumption, cardiometabolic factors, and liver fibrosis in patients with these two liver diseases.
Methods: This observational cohort study included 1866 patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and 521 patients with metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-associated liver disease who underwent > two health checkups over >2 years. The associations of both liver diseases with worsening non-invasive liver fibrosis scores were assessed using the Cox regression analysis.
Results: Both liver diseases independently worsened liver fibrosis in both sexes. However, the hazard ratio for worsening liver fibrosis in females was significantly higher with metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-associated liver disease than with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. Worsening liver fibrosis was not associated with alcohol consumption. Among males with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, the hazard ratio for worsening liver fibrosis was significantly higher in those with multiple cardiometabolic factors compared to those with a single cardiometabolic factor.
Conclusions: Although both metabolic steatotic liver disease and metabolic alcohol-associated liver disease were correlated with liver fibrosis progression in both sexes, the impact of alcohol consumption and cardiometabolic factors on fibrosis progression differed by sex. Cardiometabolic factors may have a stronger impact on liver fibrosis than alcohol consumption in males with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.