Gastroenterologists are calling for a prevention package for the key disease fatty liver
08.12.2021 15:33
The German Society for Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (DGVS) e. V. welcomes the plans of the traffic light coalition to make health data more usable for scientific purposes in the future and to strengthen primary and secondary prevention. She calls on the future federal government and its health minister, Professor Dr. Karl Lauterbach called on chronic diseases such as fatty liver disease and other diseases of the digestive tract to be given greater consideration than before as part of the planned national prevention plan, because they can be responsible for a large number of serious diseases. The prevention measures previously provided for in the coalition agreement, such as continued voluntary food labeling, were not sufficient.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common diet-related disease in Germany: almost one in three Germans suffers from it. It is estimated that up to five million people in Germany will be affected by the advanced form, non-alcoholic fatty liver inflammation (NASH), by 2030. If left untreated, this disease can lead to liver fibrosis, liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. In addition, fatty liver disease is a so-called “trigger disease” for other common diseases: it often occurs in conjunction with obesity or cardiovascular disease. For example, 60 percent of people with fatty liver disease also have type 2 diabetes, and four out of five of those affected suffer from high blood pressure.
A fatty liver is often caused by an unhealthy lifestyle - characterized by an unbalanced diet and a lack of exercise. The good news is that the development of the disease can be stopped by changing your lifestyle. Therefore, according to the DGVS, this potentially serious and long-term fatal disease must be the focus of future prevention measures. “We are pleased that the topic of prevention has such importance in the new coalition agreement. The designated Minister of Health Professor Dr. As an epidemiologist, Karl Lauterbach knows how important this is. We therefore wish him much success in his new role. In particular, awareness of fatty liver disease as a key or trigger disease must be increased in politics and the public,” demands Professor Dr. med. Heiner Wedemeyer, media spokesman for DGVS. This could be an important task for the planned “Federal Institute for Public Health”, which will continue the work of the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA). In addition, a concrete package of measures to combat fatty liver disease must be developed as part of the announced national prevention plan.
But not only prevention, but also early detection of fatty liver disease needs to be strengthened. Liver diseases have no symptoms for a long time and often damage the organism unnoticed for many years. “We need to create procedures that allow doctors to check their patients for an increased risk of fatty liver disease. The determination of liver values must therefore not only be an integral part of the check-up 35, but also of the health check Ü45, which the coalition partners want to roll out across the board according to the contract. This should also include screening for liver cirrhosis in order to improve the liver health of the population - as recently recommended by EU Commission President and doctor Ursula von der Leyen," said Wedemeyer, Director of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at the Medical School Hanover (MHH). This is the only way family doctors can detect abnormal liver values early in order to refer the patient to a specialist for further diagnosis and treatment. A change in lifestyle is then one of the most important measures. “But that often doesn’t work. We therefore urgently need further therapeutic approaches to combat fatty liver disease, but also other diseases of the digestive tract. These can only be achieved through research, as gastroenterology has achieved, for example, in the treatment of hepatitis C,” says Wedemeyer.
The DGVS has great hope in the possibility announced by the future federal government of being able to use anonymized health data for scientific questions in order to find solutions to health care problems: “The more data that can be scientifically analyzed, the better. They enable greater understanding of the disease development and relationships, which we need for targeted prevention and effective care of patients with fatty liver disease,” adds Professor Dr. med. Christian Trautwein, director of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Metabolic Diseases and Internal Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital of Aachen and spokesman for a Transregio Collaborative Research Center that deals with liver inflammation and scarring. The goal of networking research projects more closely and applying the results of basic research in a timely manner also points in the right direction. However, it is important to set the right accents: “The planned research center of the Helmholtz Society for Aging Research is important. However, the prerequisite for healthy aging is a better understanding of how chronic diseases, especially trigger diseases such as fatty liver, can be avoided, recognized and treated,” emphasizes liver expert Trautwein. As with prevention and early detection, more active support from politicians is also needed in the area of collaborative research.