will become the leading cause of liver cancer in less than ten years

Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH) has been warning for a long time: alcohol consumption And fatty liver They are your greatest concern. This Friday, which marks the first time as World Liver Day, they are once again asking the administration to:greater political attention liver diseases” in conditions of its “uncontrollable growth”. They focus on prevention and early detection. They criticize the “poor application” of the law, which prohibits sale of alcoholic beverages to minors and they warn about fatty liver: it will be the main cause liver cancer in less than a decade.

Hepatologists say that until now, policy attention to liver disease has focused on viral hepatitis and especially hepatitis C. They remember that this interest materialized in 2015 in the “great national agreement”, which received the approval of all autonomous communities within the framework of the Interterritorial Health Council. This success “has allowed us to move forward on the path to eliminating hepatitis C.”

Almost a decade laterspecialists ask to resolve other issues that they consider relevant and have submitted to the Government National Liver Health Plan. They are seriously concerned about two problems: liver diseases associated with with consumption alcohol and metabolic hepatic steatosis associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, known as fatty liver.

Ten million Spaniards

“It is necessary to pay attention and correct progression of fatty liverwhich is already influencing more than 10 million Spaniardsof whom almost two million will have liver inflammation (steatohepatitis), and of these 400,000 will have already cirrhosis of the liver“, says AEEH President Manuel Romero.

However, such prevention does not occur. “due to low level of awareness” about risk factors – obesity and overweight, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol in the case of fatty liver – and because, he adds, these are silent diseases: your symptoms are non-specific and they do not become apparent until there is significant damage to the liver. Dr. Romero complains that this type of disease is not obvious.

Alcohol

Doctors are worried,a lot,”heavy alcohol consumption in minorswhich reflects poor enforcement of the law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages to these minors and, above all, low social perception of risk.” They refer to the Estudes 2023 study of the National Drug Plan. , Ministry of Health, which indicates that more than 70% of minors aged 14 to 18 years have consumed alcohol in the past twelve months and just over half They consumed it in the last 30 days.

“It is necessary to combat alcohol consumption very seriously at younger and younger ages, since it is already the first cause of liver cirrhosis and the need for liver transplantation, in addition to being directly or indirectly responsible for more than 50% of liver cancer cases,” the scientific society notes.

Cirrhosis of the liver at an early age

But consumption is not the only problem, they assure. Because that’s also a concern progression of fatty liver,”again for the general impact on the entire population and for its specific growth among teenagers and young people“The scientific society cites recent studies that estimate this to be up to eight out of ten people are overweight They already have fatty liver disease and are at risk of developing cirrhosis at an early age.

Presence of liver cancer in patients with fatty liver disease in Spain has tripled over the past decade, Thus, it is likely that metabolic liver steatosis be the leading cause of liver cancer in less than ten years, they warn.

Political agenda

IN The plan that hepatologists brought to the ministryand that they want to bring to the attention of all parliamentary political groups the idea of ​​making it possible to conclude an agreement similar to the one approved in 2015 by consensus of all autonomous communities. To hepatitis Ca multidisciplinary team worked more than 60 experts.

The document, they conclude, addresses all liver diseases in a comprehensive and updated form, and defines fifteen critical goalsdivided into five strategic directions (research, education, public health, health models and digitalization) and three major action areas (prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up).