Hypertension associated with the risk of extrahepatic cancers in MASLD population: a multicenter cross-sectional study in China

Background Extrahepatic cancers have been recognized as a significant outcome of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)--redefined as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatosis liver disease (MASLD) with five cardiometabolic risk factors including hypertension which is associated with several cancers’ tumorigenesis or anti-cancer treatment. We aimed to investigate the association between hypertension, liver fibrosis and extrahepatic cancers in MASLD population. Methods This multicenter cross-sectional study was based on MASLD population derived from hospital-based database across 11 centers in the nationwide of China, according to MASLD diagnostic criteria based on keywords and ICD-10 codes. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) between risk factors and extrahepatic cancers. Results Totally 103,652 MASLD individuals were identified, with 6,605 diagnosed extrahepatic cancers. The primary outcome showed that hypertension (OR 1.15, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.26), and its combination with hyperglycemia (OR 1.33, 95% CI: 1.19, 1.48) were significantly associated with extrahepatic cancers in MASLD population. Over 40-year-old, female gender, AST/ALT over ULN were also risk factors. Metabolic-based treatments including ACEIs/ARBs (aOR 0.68, 95% CI:0.61,0.76), Fibrates (aOR 0.46, 95% CI:0.34,0.61), GLP-1 RA (aOR 0.54, 95% CI:0.37,0.79), and Thiazolidinediones (aOR 0.45, 95% CI:0.26,0.79) were significantly protective factors. After adjusting confounding factors, FIB-4 index associated with extrahepatic cancers in all age groups. In hypertension subgroup, FIB-4 between 1.3-2.66 and over 3.48 were associated with extrahepatic cancers in aged 35 to 65, consistent with those over 65 with FIB-4 over 2. Conclusion Hypertension combined with liver fibrosis is associated with extrahepatic cancers in MASLD population.