Validation of new disease definition for patients with liver disease: FLASH study published in Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology
FLASH has recently had a study published in the fine journal Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology which tests the new disease definition for patients with fatty liver.
A study led by Mads Israelsen has been published in February 2024 in one of the most prestigious journals in liver diseases, namely Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology .
International experts and patient representatives recently got together to find a new name for conditions where patients have abnormal accumulation of fat in the liver, previously called fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver disease was thought to be stigmatizing, which is why they wanted a new definition of the disease that was less stigmatizing,
but still descriptive of the condition. Therefore, they landed on the definition steatotic liver disease.
However, this was a definition derived from consensus among the experts and the patient representatives, and it was therefore unknown whether the patients who would previously have been covered by "fatty liver disease"
would also do so with the new definition.
Hence, researchers from FLASH set out to test the new disease definition, with the help of a cohort of patients from Funen, who had a previous or current overconsumption of alcohol that predisposes to steatotic liver disease.
The researchers found that it was possible to classify according to the new definition with “real world patients”, while those with a higher alcohol consumption were also predisposed to a poorer survival and risk of developing liver disease with complications, as expected in line with previous research.
Link to article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(23)00443-0/abstract
International experts and patient representatives recently got together to find a new name for conditions where patients have abnormal accumulation of fat in the liver, previously called fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver disease was thought to be stigmatizing, which is why they wanted a new definition of the disease that was less stigmatizing,
but still descriptive of the condition. Therefore, they landed on the definition steatotic liver disease.
However, this was a definition derived from consensus among the experts and the patient representatives, and it was therefore unknown whether the patients who would previously have been covered by "fatty liver disease"
would also do so with the new definition.
Hence, researchers from FLASH set out to test the new disease definition, with the help of a cohort of patients from Funen, who had a previous or current overconsumption of alcohol that predisposes to steatotic liver disease.
The researchers found that it was possible to classify according to the new definition with “real world patients”, while those with a higher alcohol consumption were also predisposed to a poorer survival and risk of developing liver disease with complications, as expected in line with previous research.
Link to article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(23)00443-0/abstract