In patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), diabetes led to poorer liver transplant-free survival, according to results presented at the AASLD Liver Meeting.
Researchers usedthe retrospective Dutch PBC Cohort Study, which includes all identifiable patients with PBC in the Netherlands from 71 Dutch hospitals between 1990 and 2022 (latest data collection).
The study followed 4,256 patients for a median of 8.9 years (range, 4.2–14.8 years), most (n=3,753; 88.2%) of whom were female. Nearly 10% (n=418; 9.8%) of the cohort had diabetes at baseline.
Patients with diabetes were:
- Older (median age, 63.6 vs 56.0 years; P<.001);
- More often male (17.7% vs 11.3%; P<.001); and
- More likely to have cirrhosis at baseline (14.6% vs 5.8%; P<.001).
The Paris-2 response rate after 1 year of ursodeoxycholic acid treatment was 55.2% in patients with diabetes compared with 57.6% in those without diabetes (P=.447).
Ten-year liver transplant-free survival was 70.7% in the diabetes cohort compared with 87.0% in those without diabetes (P<.001).
At 10 years, the cumulative liver-specific event rate was 14.6% and 6.9% in those with and without diabetes, respectively (P<.001).
The researchers adjusted for age, gender, cirrhosis, calendar time, and biochemical parameters of liver disease severity and still found independent associations between diabetes and an increased risk of liver transplant or death (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.7; P<.001). Diabetes was also associated with liver-specific events (adjusted HR, 1.6; P=.040).
Reference
Werner E, Weijsters GHX, van Hooff MCB, et al. Diabetes mellitus is associated with worse clinical outcomes in patients with primary biliary cholangitis. Abstract 4308. Presented at the 2024 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases’ 75th Liver Meeting; November. 15–19, 2024; San Diego.
