Most liver cancers are preventable with vaccination and lifestyle policy

Three in five liver cancer cases globally could be prevented by reducing obesity and alcohol consumption and increasing uptake of the hepatitis vaccine, a study has found. The Lancet Commission on liver cancer found that most cases were preventable if alcohol consumption, fatty liver disease and levels of viral hepatitis B and C were reduced.

The commission's recommendations, which include boosting HBV vaccination, implementing universal screening for adults, introducing minimum alcohol unit pricing and sugar taxes, investing in early detection of liver damage and cancer, and improving palliative care for sufferers, could reduce the incidence of liver cancer cases by 2% to 5% each year by 2050. This could prevent 9m to 17m new cases of liver cancer and save 8 million to 15 million lives.

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer death. The number of deaths is predicted to grow from 760,000 in 2022 to 1.37 million in 2050. Experts warn that urgent action is needed to reverse this trend, with one-third of the global population estimated to have metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a condition that can lead to liver cancer if left unchecked.

29 July 2025 13:08 By London Health News Desk