This new tool is the result of an international study led by Clínic-IDIBAPS, within the European LiverScreen project, which has had significant contributions from researchers of the Research Group on Liver Diseases in Primary Care (GReMHAP) at IDIAPJGol and the Metropolitan North Primary Care Directorate of ICS. Its potential to improve the lives of millions of patients is highlighted by the prestigious journal The Lancet, where the study has just been published.
Growing prevalence
Cirrhosis is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide and the second leading cause of years of life lost in Europe. Although cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C has decreased thanks to new treatments, its prevalence is increasing significantly due to fatty liver disease, related to type 2 diabetes and obesity.
“It is a disease that develops slowly and produces no symptoms, so very often when it is diagnosed it is at a very advanced stage in which treatment options are very limited,” explains Pere Ginès, project coordinator. Hence the need for simple tools, based on clinical or laboratory variables, to identify people at risk of liver fibrosis and to be able to prevent it.
How does it work?
The ©LiverRisk index is based on 8 variables: age, gender, and six standard variables that can be determined in any laboratory. With this information, it predicts the onset of liver fibrosis, determines whether the liver condition is normal or abnormal, and forecasts the possibility of long-term complications.
“The applicability is similar to cardiovascular risk factors that have existed for many years and predict whether a person is at risk of suffering a myocardial infarction,” notes Ginès. This applicability is key in an area where, until now, there was no possibility of early diagnosis.
Reducing liver disease mortality
The LiverScreen project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. It involves 43 hospitals and research centers. Its objective is to evaluate the potential of hepatic elastography, a non-invasive technique to determine liver stiffness, in screening chronic liver diseases in the general population.
To develop the new risk index, researchers relied on data from 6,400 people without known liver disease but who, after a hepatic elastography, were found to have liver fibrosis. The index was validated in 8,369 people from the general population, and its prognostic value was determined in a cohort of 416,000 without disease and followed up for 12 years.
