{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T13:45:43Z","timestamp":1790862343858,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]],"date-time":"2026-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782086400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Endocrinol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is increasingly recognized as a contributor to hepatocellular carcinoma. Whether repeated assessment of MASLD provides additional prognostic information for liver cancer risk remains unclear.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Using the UK Biobank, we included 12,111 participants who underwent both baseline and follow-up health screenings. MASLD was defined at each assessment as fatty liver index \u226560 plus at least one cardiometabolic risk criterion. Four trajectory groups were defined: no MASLD \u2192 no MASLD, no MASLD \u2192 MASLD, MASLD \u2192 no MASLD, and MASLD \u2192 MASLD. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>At baseline, 4,008 participants (33.1%) had MASLD. MASLD at period 1 was associated with a higher risk of incident liver cancer compared with no MASLD (aHR, 2.81; 95% CI, 1.20\u20136.58). A similar association was observed for MASLD at period 2 (aHR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.12\u20136.06). In trajectory analyses, MASLD \u2192 no MASLD (aHR, 4.00; 95% CI, 1.01\u201315.80) and MASLD \u2192 MASLD (aHR, 3.51; 95% CI, 1.31\u20139.44) were associated with higher liver cancer risk than no MASLD \u2192 no MASLD.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>MASLD at either assessment was associated with higher incident liver cancer risk. Trajectory analyses suggest that persistent MASLD and prior MASLD exposure may both carry prognostic importance.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2026.1851106","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]],"date-time":"2026-06-22T04:37:20Z","timestamp":1782103040000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Association of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease trajectories with incident liver cancer: a UK Biobank cohort study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Ryuk Jun","family":"Kwon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Family Medicine Clinic and Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital","place":["Yangsan, Republic of Korea"]},{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine","place":["Yangsan, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yohwan","family":"Lim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gochang-gun Public Health Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare","place":["Gochang, Republic of Korea"]},{"name":"Department of Biomedical Informatics, CHA University School of Medicine","place":["Seongnam, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.metabol.2021.154955","article-title":"Metabolic dysfunction\u2013associated fatty liver disease and the risk of 24 specific cancers","volume":"127","author":"Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Metabolism"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3350\/cmh.2024.0431","article-title":"Epidemiology of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease","volume":"31","author":"Younossi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Clin Mol Hepatol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhep.2021.08.012","article-title":"Epidemiology and risk-stratification of NAFLD-associated HCC","volume":"75","author":"Ioannou","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Hepatol"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/hep.31845","article-title":"Cancer risk in patients with biopsy-confirmed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A population-based cohort study","volume":"74","author":"Simon","year":"2021","journal-title":"Hepatology"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3350\/cmh.2024.0145","article-title":"Evolutionary changes in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: A nationwide cohort study","volume":"30","author":"Jeong","year":"2024","journal-title":"Clin Mol Hepatol"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2026.1844870","article-title":"Association of organ dysfunction trajectories and major adverse cardiovascular events using clinical obesity in UK Biobank. 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