Research
Hormonal
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with a significantly higher risk of colorectal adenomas and cancer compared to simple steatosis or healthy controls.
If you have NASH (inflammatory fatty liver), you have a significantly higher risk of developing colon polyps and cancer compared to those with simple fatty liver. Discuss with your doctor whether you need earlier or more frequent colorectal cancer screening.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Intriguingly, this association was most strongly observed in NASH patients and absent in those with simple steatosis. Even after adjusting for confounding demographic and metabolic risk factors, NASH patients were found to harbor a much higher risk of both benign (adjusted OR 4.89) and advanced colorectal lesions (adjusted OR 5.34)
Why this rating
Supported by several studies, but limited by cross-sectional designs and lack of long-term prospective data confirming causality.
Source
Extrahepatic complications of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Matthew J. Armstrong et al. · Hepatology · 2013
DOI 10.1002/hep.26717
narrative_reviewCited 603×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), particularly the NASH subtype and advanced fibrosis, is an independent risk factor for increased incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease (CVD).Good
- Ultrasound-defined NAFLD is associated with a two- to five-fold increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM), independent of lifestyle and metabolic confounders.Good
- NAFLD, particularly biopsy-proven NASH, is associated with a greater prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and an increased risk of incident CKD.Moderate
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