Fatty liver in pregnancy may raise risk of premature birth

New research from Sweden suggests the liver condition may independently increase complications during pregnancy, regardless of obesity

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Pregnancy is a time when close monitoring of a mother's health is critical and a new study shows that a common but often overlooked liver condition may play a bigger role than previously thought.

According to researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, pregnant women with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, face a significantly higher risk of giving birth prematurely. The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, found that this increased risk could not be fully explained by obesity alone.

Threefold increase in risk