Thursday, May 26, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Medicine & Health

Blood tests can predict the risk of liver cirrhosis

July 2, 2020
in Medicine & Health
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Repeated measurements of the biomarker FIB-4 in the blood every few years can predict the risk of developing severe liver disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the Journal of Hepatology. The risk of liver cirrhosis increases if the levels of this biomarker rise between two testing occasions.

Fat accumulation in the liver is common and is often seen in people with obesity or diabetes. In the worst case, fatty liver can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. It is unusual for this to occur but in those affected, symptoms often only occur at a late stage when there is no available treatment.

“It is difficult to predict the risk of cirrhosis, although you can get some guidance in using regular blood tests that measure liver damage,” says lead author Hannes Hagstrom, hepatologist at the Karolinska University Hospital and docent at Karolinska Institutet. “Therefore, we wanted to investigate whether what is known as the FIB-4 score can increase the accuracy of the identification of people at high risk, in particular with information from repeated measurements.”

The new study shows that repeated sampling and measurements of the FIB-4 score, rather than measuring FIB-4 on one sole occasion, can increase the prediction of future liver cirrhosis. The researchers used the AMORIS cohort that contains laboratory test data in a very large population, surveyed between 1985 and 1996. More than 40,000 people had blood test data for FIB-4 from several sampling occasions. They were followed in national registers to identify those who developed cirrhosis after up to 27 years.

The main finding was that the risk increases in people where the FIB-4 score rises between two testing occasions and decreases when it falls. In this way, almost half of those who were later affected by cirrhosis could be identified. One problem, however, was that the accuracy was relatively low, with a risk of false positive tests.

The study also established that it took a long time to develop cirrhosis, and that it may be enough to recalculate the FIB-4 score at intervals of several years.

“We show that this biomarker is useful for identifying people in primary care with an increased risk of cirrhosis who may need to be more carefully investigated and to exclude people who do not need this,” says Dr Hagstrom. “But the method needs to be further developed to reduce the risk of false positive findings, which can lead to unnecessary examinations in healthy people.”

###

The study was funded with grants from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, Region Stockholm and the Gunnar & Ingmar Jungner Foundation for Laboratory Medicine. Dr Hagstrom has received consulting fees from Novo Nordisk, Gilead Sciences Inc., IQVIA and Intercept Pharmaceuticals, and has been advisory board member of Bristol Myers-Squibb and Gilead Sciences (all unconnected to the present study). Dr Hagstrom’s departments have received research grants from Gilead Sciences Inc (Department of Medicine, Huddinge) and Intercept Pharmaceuticals (Karolinska University Hospital).

Publication: “Measurements of FIB-4 can improve identification of individuals at risk of severe liver disease”. Hannes Hagstrom, Mats Talback, Anna Andreasson, Goran Walldius and Niklas Hammar. Journal of Hepatology, online 1 July 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2020.06.007.

Media Contact
Press Office
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

https://news.ki.se/blood-tests-can-predict-the-risk-of-liver-cirrhosis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2020.06.007

Tags: Internal MedicineLiverMedicine/Health
Share26Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Bronze Age Shoes

    Climate change reveals unique artefacts in melting ice patches

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Danish astrophysics student discovers link between global warming and locally unstable weather

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Long-duration energy storage beats the challenge of week-long wind-power lulls

    72 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • The Cinderella Project: The right to see yourself in the mirror and like what you see

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Simple, inexpensive diagnostic technology to combat global threat of African Swine Fever

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Tiny robotic crab is smallest-ever remote-controlled walking robot

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Data contradict fears of COVID-19 vaccine effects on pregnancy and fertility

Charging a green future: Latest advancement in lithium-ion batteries could make them ubiquitous

Long-duration energy storage beats the challenge of week-long wind-power lulls

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 188 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....