One in three adults with NAFLD-related cirrhosis and diabetes in the decade up to 2018 progressed to decompensated cirrhosis, an Australian study shows.

Age, hypertension and extrahepatic cancer all influenced the risk of progression, but the hepatologist researchers said diabetes was the most significant factor given its high prevalence.

“Given the greater risk of progression to cirrhosis decompensation in people with diabetes mellitus, … identifying advanced fibrosis and providing appropriate treatment for averting disease progression is vital,” they wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The team, led by the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, analysed outcomes for 8000 patients aged 20 and over admitted to Queensland hospitals with NAFLD/NASH between 2009 and 2018.