Curie Brief
Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
News
Young adults developing cirrhosis from fatty liver disease aren't just getting sick earlier — they have a unique risk profile. A new study finds that a high genetic risk score and type 2 diabetes are the biggest drivers of MASLD-related cirrhosis before age 50. Worryingly, standard screening tools miss nearly a third of these younger patients.
A new multicenter study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology reveals that younger adults who develop cirrhosis from metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) aren't simply experiencing the same disease earlier — they have a distinct combination of genetic susceptibility and metabolic risk factors that fast-track progression to advanced liver disease.
Researchers at UC San Diego analyzed 2,395 adults with biopsy-confirmed MASLD and found that about a quarter of those with cirrhosis were under 50. In this younger group, a high genetic risk score and type 2 diabetes were the strongest independent predictors of cirrhosis — even after adjusting for other factors. Notably, younger cirrhosis patients were also less likely to carry a protective gene variant (HSD17B13).
A major red flag: roughly 30% of early-onset MASLD cirrhosis cases had a normal FIB-4 score, the standard age-based screening tool, meaning they would likely be missed in routine clinical care.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Current screening pathways rely heavily on age, leaving a significant portion of younger, high-risk patients undetected. This study makes the case for integrating genetic risk scores and diabetes status into liver disease screening to catch cirrhosis earlier — when intervention is most impactful.
