ArticleHepatology international2026
Comparative risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and mortality among initiators of GLP-1 receptor agonists versus other glucose-lowering therapies: a target trial emulation.
Article in Hepatology international, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionGlucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) may influence pathways involved in hepatocarcinogenesis, but evidence regarding their association with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and mortality risk remains heterogeneous. We evaluated the association between GLP-1 RA initiation and HCC incidence compared with commonly used glucose-lowering medications, with secondary exploratory analyses of all-cause mortality following HCC diagnosis.
methodsWe emulated active-comparator, new-user target trials using Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network data from UT Southwestern Medical Center (PCORnet-UTSW; 2010-2025). Adults with T2D initiating GLP-1 RA were compared with initiators of metformin, insulin, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4i), and sulfonylureas. The primary outcome was incident HCC; a secondary analysis evaluated all-cause mortality after HCC diagnosis. Five-year risks and risk differences under the intention-to-treat (ITT) approach were estimated using pooled logistic regression with inverse probability of treatment weighting. Per-protocol analyses accounted for treatment adherence using inverse probability of censoring weights.
resultsGLP-1 RA initiators had lower five-year HCC risk than comparator groups. Under ITT, risk differences were - 0.37% (95% CI - 0.59 to - 0.08) versus metformin, - 0.52% (95% CI - 0.74 to - 0.35) versus insulin, - 0.37% (95% CI - 0.70 to - 0.06) versus DPP4i, and - 0.39% (95% CI - 0.64 to - 0.13) versus sulfonylureas. Findings were stronger in per-protocol analyses and consistent across subgroups, sensitivity analyses and by individual GLP-1 RA agent. Mortality analyses were limited by small sample sizes but suggested a potential survival benefit.
conclusionsGLP-1 RA initiation was associated with lower HCC risk versus several comparators. Mortality findings were inconclusive and exploratory, warranting confirmation in larger studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42584814What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.