TBD Meeting (3224-23)

Fewer than one out of four patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receive oral interferon-free direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), and rates aren’t much better for patients seen by specialists, based on a retrospective analysis of private insurance claims.

The study also showed that patients receiving DAAs lived significantly longer, emphasizing the importance of prescribing these medications to all eligible patients, reported principal investigator Mindie H. Nguyen, MD, AGAF,, of Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, and colleagues.

“Prior studies have shown evidence of improved survival among HCV-related HCC patients who received DAA treatment, but not much is known about the current DAA utilization among these patients in the general US population,” said lead author Leslie Y. Kam, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in gastroenterology at Stanford Medicine, who presented the findings in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

To generate real-world data, the investigators analyzed medical records from 3922 patients in Optum’s Clinformatics Data Mart Database. All patients had private medical insurance and received care for HCV-related HCC between 2015 and 2021.

“Instead of using institutional databases which tend to bias toward highly specialized tertiary care center patients, our study uses a large, national sample of HCV-HCC patients that represents real-world DAA treatment rates and survival outcomes,” Dr. Kam said in a written comment.

Within this cohort, fewer than one out of four patients (23.5%) received DAA, a rate that Dr. Kam called “dismally low.”

Patients with either compensated or decompensated cirrhosis had higher treatment rates than those without cirrhosis (24.2% or 24.5%, respectively, vs. 16.2%; P = .001). The investigators noted that more than half of the patients had decompensated cirrhosis, suggesting that HCV-related HCC was diagnosed late in the disease course.

Receiving care from a gastroenterologist or infectious disease physician also was associated with a higher treatment rate. Patients managed by a gastroenterologist alone had a treatment rate of 27.0%, while those who received care from a gastroenterologist or infectious disease doctor alongside an oncologist had a treatment rate of 25.6%, versus just 9.4% for those who received care from an oncologist alone, and 12.4% among those who did not see a specialist of any kind (P = .005).

These findings highlight “the need for a multidisciplinary approach to care in this population,” Dr. Kam suggested.

Echoing previous research, DAAs were associated with extended survival. A significantly greater percentage of patients who received DAA were alive after 5 years, compared with patients who did not receive DAA (47.2% vs. 35.2%; P less than .001). After adjustment for comorbidities, HCC treatment, race/ethnicity, sex, and age, DAAs were associated with a 39% reduction in risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.61; 0.53-0.69; P less than .001).

“There were also racial ethnic disparities in patient survival whether patients received DAA or not, with Black patients having worse survival,” Dr. Kam said. “As such, our study highlights that awareness of HCV remains low as does the use of DAA treatment. Therefore, culturally appropriate efforts to improve awareness of HCV must continue among the general public and health care workers as well as efforts to provide point of care accurate and rapid screening tests for HCV so that DAA treatment can be initiated in a timely manner for eligible patients. Continual education on the use of DAA treatment is also needed.”

Robert John Fontana, MD, AGAF, professor of medicine and transplant hepatologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, described the findings as “frustrating,” and “not the kind of stuff I like to hear about.

“Treatment rates are so low,” Dr. Fontana said, noting that even among gastroenterologists and infectious disease doctors, who should be well-versed in DAAs, antivirals were prescribed less than 30% of the time.

In an interview, Dr. Fontana highlighted the benefits of DAAs, including their ease-of-use and effectiveness.

“Hepatitis C was the leading reason that we had to do liver transplants in the United States for years,” he said. “Then once these really amazing drugs called direct-acting antivirals came out, they changed the landscape very quickly. It really was a game changer for my whole practice, and, nationally, the practice of transplant.”

Yet, this study and others suggest that these practice-altering agents are being underutilized, Dr. Fontana said. A variety of reasons could explain suboptimal usage, he suggested, including lack of awareness among medical professionals and the public, the recency of DAA approvals, low HCV testing rates, lack of symptoms in HCV-positive patients, and medication costs.

This latter barrier, at least, is dissolving, Dr. Fontana said. Some payers initially restricted which providers could prescribe DAAs, but now the economic consensus has swung in their favor, since curing patients of HCV brings significant health care savings down the line. This financial advantage—theoretically multiplied across 4-5 million Americans living with HCV—has bolstered a multi-institutional effort toward universal HCV screening, with testing recommended at least once in every person’s lifetime.

“It’s highly cost effective,” Dr. Fontana said. “Even though the drugs are super expensive, you will reduce cost by preventing the people streaming towards liver cancer or streaming towards liver transplant. That’s why all the professional societies—the USPSTF, the CDC—they all say, ‘OK, screen everyone.’ ”

Screening may be getting easier soon, Dr. Fontana predicted, as at-home HCV-testing kits are on the horizon, with development and adoption likely accelerated by the success of at-home viral testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beyond broader screening, Dr. Fontana suggested that greater awareness of DAAs is needed both within and beyond the medical community.

He advised health care providers who don’t yet feel comfortable diagnosing or treating HCV to refer to their local specialist.

“That’s the main message,” Dr. Fontana said. “I’m always eternally hopeful that every little message helps.”

The investigators and Dr. Fontana disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Fewer than one out of four patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receive oral interferon-free direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), and rates aren’t much better for patients seen by specialists, based on a retrospective analysis of private insurance claims.

The study also showed that patients receiving DAAs lived significantly longer, emphasizing the importance of prescribing these medications to all eligible patients, reported principal investigator Mindie H. Nguyen, MD, AGAF,, of Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, and colleagues.

“Prior studies have shown evidence of improved survival among HCV-related HCC patients who received DAA treatment, but not much is known about the current DAA utilization among these patients in the general US population,” said lead author Leslie Y. Kam, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in gastroenterology at Stanford Medicine, who presented the findings in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

To generate real-world data, the investigators analyzed medical records from 3922 patients in Optum’s Clinformatics Data Mart Database. All patients had private medical insurance and received care for HCV-related HCC between 2015 and 2021.

“Instead of using institutional databases which tend to bias toward highly specialized tertiary care center patients, our study uses a large, national sample of HCV-HCC patients that represents real-world DAA treatment rates and survival outcomes,” Dr. Kam said in a written comment.

Within this cohort, fewer than one out of four patients (23.5%) received DAA, a rate that Dr. Kam called “dismally low.”

Patients with either compensated or decompensated cirrhosis had higher treatment rates than those without cirrhosis (24.2% or 24.5%, respectively, vs. 16.2%; P = .001). The investigators noted that more than half of the patients had decompensated cirrhosis, suggesting that HCV-related HCC was diagnosed late in the disease course.

Receiving care from a gastroenterologist or infectious disease physician also was associated with a higher treatment rate. Patients managed by a gastroenterologist alone had a treatment rate of 27.0%, while those who received care from a gastroenterologist or infectious disease doctor alongside an oncologist had a treatment rate of 25.6%, versus just 9.4% for those who received care from an oncologist alone, and 12.4% among those who did not see a specialist of any kind (P = .005).

These findings highlight “the need for a multidisciplinary approach to care in this population,” Dr. Kam suggested.

Echoing previous research, DAAs were associated with extended survival. A significantly greater percentage of patients who received DAA were alive after 5 years, compared with patients who did not receive DAA (47.2% vs. 35.2%; P less than .001). After adjustment for comorbidities, HCC treatment, race/ethnicity, sex, and age, DAAs were associated with a 39% reduction in risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.61; 0.53-0.69; P less than .001).

“There were also racial ethnic disparities in patient survival whether patients received DAA or not, with Black patients having worse survival,” Dr. Kam said. “As such, our study highlights that awareness of HCV remains low as does the use of DAA treatment. Therefore, culturally appropriate efforts to improve awareness of HCV must continue among the general public and health care workers as well as efforts to provide point of care accurate and rapid screening tests for HCV so that DAA treatment can be initiated in a timely manner for eligible patients. Continual education on the use of DAA treatment is also needed.”

Robert John Fontana, MD, AGAF, professor of medicine and transplant hepatologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, described the findings as “frustrating,” and “not the kind of stuff I like to hear about.

“Treatment rates are so low,” Dr. Fontana said, noting that even among gastroenterologists and infectious disease doctors, who should be well-versed in DAAs, antivirals were prescribed less than 30% of the time.

In an interview, Dr. Fontana highlighted the benefits of DAAs, including their ease-of-use and effectiveness.

“Hepatitis C was the leading reason that we had to do liver transplants in the United States for years,” he said. “Then once these really amazing drugs called direct-acting antivirals came out, they changed the landscape very quickly. It really was a game changer for my whole practice, and, nationally, the practice of transplant.”

Yet, this study and others suggest that these practice-altering agents are being underutilized, Dr. Fontana said. A variety of reasons could explain suboptimal usage, he suggested, including lack of awareness among medical professionals and the public, the recency of DAA approvals, low HCV testing rates, lack of symptoms in HCV-positive patients, and medication costs.

This latter barrier, at least, is dissolving, Dr. Fontana said. Some payers initially restricted which providers could prescribe DAAs, but now the economic consensus has swung in their favor, since curing patients of HCV brings significant health care savings down the line. This financial advantage—theoretically multiplied across 4-5 million Americans living with HCV—has bolstered a multi-institutional effort toward universal HCV screening, with testing recommended at least once in every person’s lifetime.

“It’s highly cost effective,” Dr. Fontana said. “Even though the drugs are super expensive, you will reduce cost by preventing the people streaming towards liver cancer or streaming towards liver transplant. That’s why all the professional societies—the USPSTF, the CDC—they all say, ‘OK, screen everyone.’ ”

Screening may be getting easier soon, Dr. Fontana predicted, as at-home HCV-testing kits are on the horizon, with development and adoption likely accelerated by the success of at-home viral testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beyond broader screening, Dr. Fontana suggested that greater awareness of DAAs is needed both within and beyond the medical community.

He advised health care providers who don’t yet feel comfortable diagnosing or treating HCV to refer to their local specialist.

“That’s the main message,” Dr. Fontana said. “I’m always eternally hopeful that every little message helps.”

The investigators and Dr. Fontana disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Fewer than one out of four patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receive oral interferon-free direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), and rates aren’t much better for patients seen by specialists, based on a retrospective analysis of private insurance claims.

The study also showed that patients receiving DAAs lived significantly longer, emphasizing the importance of prescribing these medications to all eligible patients, reported principal investigator Mindie H. Nguyen, MD, AGAF,, of Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, and colleagues.

“Prior studies have shown evidence of improved survival among HCV-related HCC patients who received DAA treatment, but not much is known about the current DAA utilization among these patients in the general US population,” said lead author Leslie Y. Kam, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in gastroenterology at Stanford Medicine, who presented the findings in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

To generate real-world data, the investigators analyzed medical records from 3922 patients in Optum’s Clinformatics Data Mart Database. All patients had private medical insurance and received care for HCV-related HCC between 2015 and 2021.

“Instead of using institutional databases which tend to bias toward highly specialized tertiary care center patients, our study uses a large, national sample of HCV-HCC patients that represents real-world DAA treatment rates and survival outcomes,” Dr. Kam said in a written comment.

Within this cohort, fewer than one out of four patients (23.5%) received DAA, a rate that Dr. Kam called “dismally low.”

Patients with either compensated or decompensated cirrhosis had higher treatment rates than those without cirrhosis (24.2% or 24.5%, respectively, vs. 16.2%; P = .001). The investigators noted that more than half of the patients had decompensated cirrhosis, suggesting that HCV-related HCC was diagnosed late in the disease course.

Receiving care from a gastroenterologist or infectious disease physician also was associated with a higher treatment rate. Patients managed by a gastroenterologist alone had a treatment rate of 27.0%, while those who received care from a gastroenterologist or infectious disease doctor alongside an oncologist had a treatment rate of 25.6%, versus just 9.4% for those who received care from an oncologist alone, and 12.4% among those who did not see a specialist of any kind (P = .005).

These findings highlight “the need for a multidisciplinary approach to care in this population,” Dr. Kam suggested.

Echoing previous research, DAAs were associated with extended survival. A significantly greater percentage of patients who received DAA were alive after 5 years, compared with patients who did not receive DAA (47.2% vs. 35.2%; P less than .001). After adjustment for comorbidities, HCC treatment, race/ethnicity, sex, and age, DAAs were associated with a 39% reduction in risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.61; 0.53-0.69; P less than .001).

“There were also racial ethnic disparities in patient survival whether patients received DAA or not, with Black patients having worse survival,” Dr. Kam said. “As such, our study highlights that awareness of HCV remains low as does the use of DAA treatment. Therefore, culturally appropriate efforts to improve awareness of HCV must continue among the general public and health care workers as well as efforts to provide point of care accurate and rapid screening tests for HCV so that DAA treatment can be initiated in a timely manner for eligible patients. Continual education on the use of DAA treatment is also needed.”

Robert John Fontana, MD, AGAF, professor of medicine and transplant hepatologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, described the findings as “frustrating,” and “not the kind of stuff I like to hear about.

“Treatment rates are so low,” Dr. Fontana said, noting that even among gastroenterologists and infectious disease doctors, who should be well-versed in DAAs, antivirals were prescribed less than 30% of the time.

In an interview, Dr. Fontana highlighted the benefits of DAAs, including their ease-of-use and effectiveness.

“Hepatitis C was the leading reason that we had to do liver transplants in the United States for years,” he said. “Then once these really amazing drugs called direct-acting antivirals came out, they changed the landscape very quickly. It really was a game changer for my whole practice, and, nationally, the practice of transplant.”

Yet, this study and others suggest that these practice-altering agents are being underutilized, Dr. Fontana said. A variety of reasons could explain suboptimal usage, he suggested, including lack of awareness among medical professionals and the public, the recency of DAA approvals, low HCV testing rates, lack of symptoms in HCV-positive patients, and medication costs.

This latter barrier, at least, is dissolving, Dr. Fontana said. Some payers initially restricted which providers could prescribe DAAs, but now the economic consensus has swung in their favor, since curing patients of HCV brings significant health care savings down the line. This financial advantage—theoretically multiplied across 4-5 million Americans living with HCV—has bolstered a multi-institutional effort toward universal HCV screening, with testing recommended at least once in every person’s lifetime.

“It’s highly cost effective,” Dr. Fontana said. “Even though the drugs are super expensive, you will reduce cost by preventing the people streaming towards liver cancer or streaming towards liver transplant. That’s why all the professional societies—the USPSTF, the CDC—they all say, ‘OK, screen everyone.’ ”

Screening may be getting easier soon, Dr. Fontana predicted, as at-home HCV-testing kits are on the horizon, with development and adoption likely accelerated by the success of at-home viral testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beyond broader screening, Dr. Fontana suggested that greater awareness of DAAs is needed both within and beyond the medical community.

He advised health care providers who don’t yet feel comfortable diagnosing or treating HCV to refer to their local specialist.

“That’s the main message,” Dr. Fontana said. “I’m always eternally hopeful that every little message helps.”

The investigators and Dr. Fontana disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Patients with cirrhosis or renal failure who experience changes in taste and smell may have worse quality-of-life (QOL) and may be more likely to exhibit cognitive impairment than those who do not exhibit these sensory changes, according to investigators.

Clinicians should screen for changes in taste and smell among patients at risk of cognitive changes, and offer nutritional interventions to support body weight and QOL, reported principal investigator Jasmohan S. Bajaj, MD, AGAF, of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and colleagues.

Bajaj_Jasmohan_S_RICHMOND_web.jpg

“Cirrhosis is linked with poor nutrition, which could partly be due to anorexia in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and coexistent renal failure,” the investigators wrote in their abstract, which Dr. Bajaj presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“We wanted to measure how changes in the brain in cirrhosis affect patients’ abilities to smell and taste, and study how that affects their quality of life,” Dr. Bajaj said in a written comment.

To this end, the investigators conducted an observational study involving 59 participants, among whom 22 were healthy, 21 had cirrhosis, and 16 had renal failure requiring dialysis.

“Prior studies individually have shown changes in taste and smell for these two organ failures,” Dr. Bajaj said. “We studied them together as well and linked these to quality of life and individual cognitive tests.”

Of note, individuals with past or current COVID-19, or with current or recent alcohol or tobacco use, were excluded.

Compared with healthy individuals, participants with cirrhosis or renal failure had significantly worse performance on a taste discrimination test, with perceptions of sweet and sour most affected.

Cognitive measurement with Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) and Stroop tests showed that scores were worse for patients with disease than those without. Taste discrimination significantly correlated with both cognitive test scores, regardless of HE or dialysis, whereas smell only correlated with the Stroop test.

Multivariable analysis revealed that better PHES scores and smell discrimination were linked with better taste discrimination. Similarly, better PHES scores and taste discrimination contributed to better smell discrimination. Eating impairment was associated with worse Stroop scores and worse olfactory-related QOL, suggesting that sensory changes, cognitive changes, and eating behaviors were all correlated.

“Health care providers ought to be alert to changes in patients’ eating habits, diet and weight as their liver and kidney disease worsen and as their brain function changes,” Dr. Bajaj said. “Nutritionists and others may be able to assist patients with a healthy diet and suggest ways to improve patients’ reports of their quality of life. Taste and smell are just a few aspects of the complicated assessment of health-related quality of life, brain dysfunction, and nutritional compromise in cirrhosis. We need to be mindful to not just focus on these aspects but to individualize care.”

Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, MD, hepatologist and emeritus professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University, said the study was “well done,” and called the findings “an interesting little tidbit” that would probably not change his practice as a physician, but could be valuable for designing nutritional interventions.

Di Bisceglie_Adrian_STLOUIS_web.jpg

In an interview, Dr. Di Bisceglie explained that a well-balanced diet with adequate caloric intake can help slow the muscle wasting that occurs with the condition, but creating a tasty menu can be challenging when patients are asked to restrict their sodium intake as a means of reducing fluid retention.

“Salt contributes substantially to the enjoyment of food,” Dr. Di Bisceglie said.

Although the study did not specifically report the salt level in patients’ diets, Dr. Di Bisceglie said the findings highlight the need for low-salt strategies to improve palatability. For example, he suggested increasing umami, or savory flavor, as this can be accomplished without adding a significant amount of salt.

When asked if changes in taste or smell might be used as simple screening tools to detect cognitive impairment in patients with cirrhosis, Dr. Di Bisceglie said that this might be “possible,” but is probably unnecessary.

“There is an easy bedside test that we’ve been using for decades [to predict hepatic encephalopathy], which is reading,” Dr. Di Bisceglie said, noting that patients with cognitive deficits often describe reading paragraphs repeatedly without comprehending what they have read.

The investigators and Dr. Di Bisceglie disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Patients with cirrhosis or renal failure who experience changes in taste and smell may have worse quality-of-life (QOL) and may be more likely to exhibit cognitive impairment than those who do not exhibit these sensory changes, according to investigators.

Clinicians should screen for changes in taste and smell among patients at risk of cognitive changes, and offer nutritional interventions to support body weight and QOL, reported principal investigator Jasmohan S. Bajaj, MD, AGAF, of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and colleagues.

Bajaj_Jasmohan_S_RICHMOND_web.jpg

“Cirrhosis is linked with poor nutrition, which could partly be due to anorexia in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and coexistent renal failure,” the investigators wrote in their abstract, which Dr. Bajaj presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“We wanted to measure how changes in the brain in cirrhosis affect patients’ abilities to smell and taste, and study how that affects their quality of life,” Dr. Bajaj said in a written comment.

To this end, the investigators conducted an observational study involving 59 participants, among whom 22 were healthy, 21 had cirrhosis, and 16 had renal failure requiring dialysis.

“Prior studies individually have shown changes in taste and smell for these two organ failures,” Dr. Bajaj said. “We studied them together as well and linked these to quality of life and individual cognitive tests.”

Of note, individuals with past or current COVID-19, or with current or recent alcohol or tobacco use, were excluded.

Compared with healthy individuals, participants with cirrhosis or renal failure had significantly worse performance on a taste discrimination test, with perceptions of sweet and sour most affected.

Cognitive measurement with Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) and Stroop tests showed that scores were worse for patients with disease than those without. Taste discrimination significantly correlated with both cognitive test scores, regardless of HE or dialysis, whereas smell only correlated with the Stroop test.

Multivariable analysis revealed that better PHES scores and smell discrimination were linked with better taste discrimination. Similarly, better PHES scores and taste discrimination contributed to better smell discrimination. Eating impairment was associated with worse Stroop scores and worse olfactory-related QOL, suggesting that sensory changes, cognitive changes, and eating behaviors were all correlated.

“Health care providers ought to be alert to changes in patients’ eating habits, diet and weight as their liver and kidney disease worsen and as their brain function changes,” Dr. Bajaj said. “Nutritionists and others may be able to assist patients with a healthy diet and suggest ways to improve patients’ reports of their quality of life. Taste and smell are just a few aspects of the complicated assessment of health-related quality of life, brain dysfunction, and nutritional compromise in cirrhosis. We need to be mindful to not just focus on these aspects but to individualize care.”

Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, MD, hepatologist and emeritus professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University, said the study was “well done,” and called the findings “an interesting little tidbit” that would probably not change his practice as a physician, but could be valuable for designing nutritional interventions.

Di Bisceglie_Adrian_STLOUIS_web.jpg

In an interview, Dr. Di Bisceglie explained that a well-balanced diet with adequate caloric intake can help slow the muscle wasting that occurs with the condition, but creating a tasty menu can be challenging when patients are asked to restrict their sodium intake as a means of reducing fluid retention.

“Salt contributes substantially to the enjoyment of food,” Dr. Di Bisceglie said.

Although the study did not specifically report the salt level in patients’ diets, Dr. Di Bisceglie said the findings highlight the need for low-salt strategies to improve palatability. For example, he suggested increasing umami, or savory flavor, as this can be accomplished without adding a significant amount of salt.

When asked if changes in taste or smell might be used as simple screening tools to detect cognitive impairment in patients with cirrhosis, Dr. Di Bisceglie said that this might be “possible,” but is probably unnecessary.

“There is an easy bedside test that we’ve been using for decades [to predict hepatic encephalopathy], which is reading,” Dr. Di Bisceglie said, noting that patients with cognitive deficits often describe reading paragraphs repeatedly without comprehending what they have read.

The investigators and Dr. Di Bisceglie disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Patients with cirrhosis or renal failure who experience changes in taste and smell may have worse quality-of-life (QOL) and may be more likely to exhibit cognitive impairment than those who do not exhibit these sensory changes, according to investigators.

Clinicians should screen for changes in taste and smell among patients at risk of cognitive changes, and offer nutritional interventions to support body weight and QOL, reported principal investigator Jasmohan S. Bajaj, MD, AGAF, of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and colleagues.

Bajaj_Jasmohan_S_RICHMOND_web.jpg

“Cirrhosis is linked with poor nutrition, which could partly be due to anorexia in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and coexistent renal failure,” the investigators wrote in their abstract, which Dr. Bajaj presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“We wanted to measure how changes in the brain in cirrhosis affect patients’ abilities to smell and taste, and study how that affects their quality of life,” Dr. Bajaj said in a written comment.

To this end, the investigators conducted an observational study involving 59 participants, among whom 22 were healthy, 21 had cirrhosis, and 16 had renal failure requiring dialysis.

“Prior studies individually have shown changes in taste and smell for these two organ failures,” Dr. Bajaj said. “We studied them together as well and linked these to quality of life and individual cognitive tests.”

Of note, individuals with past or current COVID-19, or with current or recent alcohol or tobacco use, were excluded.

Compared with healthy individuals, participants with cirrhosis or renal failure had significantly worse performance on a taste discrimination test, with perceptions of sweet and sour most affected.

Cognitive measurement with Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) and Stroop tests showed that scores were worse for patients with disease than those without. Taste discrimination significantly correlated with both cognitive test scores, regardless of HE or dialysis, whereas smell only correlated with the Stroop test.

Multivariable analysis revealed that better PHES scores and smell discrimination were linked with better taste discrimination. Similarly, better PHES scores and taste discrimination contributed to better smell discrimination. Eating impairment was associated with worse Stroop scores and worse olfactory-related QOL, suggesting that sensory changes, cognitive changes, and eating behaviors were all correlated.

“Health care providers ought to be alert to changes in patients’ eating habits, diet and weight as their liver and kidney disease worsen and as their brain function changes,” Dr. Bajaj said. “Nutritionists and others may be able to assist patients with a healthy diet and suggest ways to improve patients’ reports of their quality of life. Taste and smell are just a few aspects of the complicated assessment of health-related quality of life, brain dysfunction, and nutritional compromise in cirrhosis. We need to be mindful to not just focus on these aspects but to individualize care.”

Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, MD, hepatologist and emeritus professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University, said the study was “well done,” and called the findings “an interesting little tidbit” that would probably not change his practice as a physician, but could be valuable for designing nutritional interventions.

Di Bisceglie_Adrian_STLOUIS_web.jpg

In an interview, Dr. Di Bisceglie explained that a well-balanced diet with adequate caloric intake can help slow the muscle wasting that occurs with the condition, but creating a tasty menu can be challenging when patients are asked to restrict their sodium intake as a means of reducing fluid retention.

“Salt contributes substantially to the enjoyment of food,” Dr. Di Bisceglie said.

Although the study did not specifically report the salt level in patients’ diets, Dr. Di Bisceglie said the findings highlight the need for low-salt strategies to improve palatability. For example, he suggested increasing umami, or savory flavor, as this can be accomplished without adding a significant amount of salt.

When asked if changes in taste or smell might be used as simple screening tools to detect cognitive impairment in patients with cirrhosis, Dr. Di Bisceglie said that this might be “possible,” but is probably unnecessary.

“There is an easy bedside test that we’ve been using for decades [to predict hepatic encephalopathy], which is reading,” Dr. Di Bisceglie said, noting that patients with cognitive deficits often describe reading paragraphs repeatedly without comprehending what they have read.

The investigators and Dr. Di Bisceglie disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Transplanting livers from deceased donors who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 is safe and has no significant impact on short-term outcomes of allografts or recipients, based on a national study with the longest follow-up to date.

Using livers from deceased patients with COVID-19 could be an opportunity expand organ availability, reported principal investigator Nadim Mahmud, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues.

Findings were presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, a few centers trialed transplanting solid organs from COVID-19 positive donors with promising initial results,” presenting author Roy X. Wang, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a written comment. “However, these were smaller experiences with short follow-up that were not exclusively focused on liver transplantation. We wanted to explore the safety of liver transplantation from COVID-19 positive donors using a large national dataset with the longest follow up time to date.”

The dataset included 13,096 COVID-negative donors and 299 COVID-positive donors who died between July 2020 and July 2022, with cases and controls matched via propensity scoring. COVID-positive donors were significantly more likely to be younger and have died of brain death. Beyond this difference in age, no significant demographic differences were detected.

After 1 year of follow-up, no statistically significant differences in patient survival (subhazard ratio, 1.11; log-rank P = .70) or allograft survival (hazard ratio, 1.44; log-rank P = .14) were detected when comparing livers transplanted from positive versus negative donors.

“Our findings support and expand upon the results from earlier studies,” Dr. Wang concluded. “Liver transplant from COVID-19-positive donors has acceptable short-term outcomes and may represent an opportunity to expand organ access.”

Still, more work is needed to assess other clinical metrics and long-term outcomes, he added.

“While we were able to show similar patient and graft survival post-transplant between COVID-19-positive and negative donors, rates of other complications were not investigated such as episodes of rejection, liver injury, and hospitalizations,” Dr. Wang said. “Due to data limitations, we are only able to report on outcomes up to 1 year post transplant. Additional investigation will be needed to continue monitoring future outcomes and identifying any differences between recipients of COVID-19-positive and negative donors.”

Timucin Taner, MD, PhD, division chair of transplant surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said the study is important because it reaffirms the majority opinion among transplant physicians: These livers are safe.

In an interview, Dr. Taner suggested that Dr. Wang’s call for longer term data is “mostly science speak,” since 1 year of follow-up should be sufficient to determine liver viability.

Taner_Timucin_MN_web.jpg

“If a liver from a COVID-19 donor behaved well for a year, then chances are it’s not going to behave badly [later on] because of the virus at the time of donation,” Dr. Taner said.

He said the reported trends in usage of COVID-positive livers reflect early hesitancy that waned with rising vaccination rates, and recognition that the virus could not be spread via liver donation.

“To date, the only transmission [of SARS-CoV-2] from a transplant has been from a lung transplant,” Dr. Taner said, “and that was back in the days that we didn’t know about this. Other organs don’t transmit the disease, so they are easily usable.”

These new data should further increase confidence among both health care providers and patients, he added.

“[This study is] reassuring to the patients on the waitlist that these organs are very safe to use,” Dr. Taner said. “We as the transplant society are comfortable using them without any hesitation.”

The investigators and Dr. Taner disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Transplanting livers from deceased donors who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 is safe and has no significant impact on short-term outcomes of allografts or recipients, based on a national study with the longest follow-up to date.

Using livers from deceased patients with COVID-19 could be an opportunity expand organ availability, reported principal investigator Nadim Mahmud, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues.

Findings were presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, a few centers trialed transplanting solid organs from COVID-19 positive donors with promising initial results,” presenting author Roy X. Wang, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a written comment. “However, these were smaller experiences with short follow-up that were not exclusively focused on liver transplantation. We wanted to explore the safety of liver transplantation from COVID-19 positive donors using a large national dataset with the longest follow up time to date.”

The dataset included 13,096 COVID-negative donors and 299 COVID-positive donors who died between July 2020 and July 2022, with cases and controls matched via propensity scoring. COVID-positive donors were significantly more likely to be younger and have died of brain death. Beyond this difference in age, no significant demographic differences were detected.

After 1 year of follow-up, no statistically significant differences in patient survival (subhazard ratio, 1.11; log-rank P = .70) or allograft survival (hazard ratio, 1.44; log-rank P = .14) were detected when comparing livers transplanted from positive versus negative donors.

“Our findings support and expand upon the results from earlier studies,” Dr. Wang concluded. “Liver transplant from COVID-19-positive donors has acceptable short-term outcomes and may represent an opportunity to expand organ access.”

Still, more work is needed to assess other clinical metrics and long-term outcomes, he added.

“While we were able to show similar patient and graft survival post-transplant between COVID-19-positive and negative donors, rates of other complications were not investigated such as episodes of rejection, liver injury, and hospitalizations,” Dr. Wang said. “Due to data limitations, we are only able to report on outcomes up to 1 year post transplant. Additional investigation will be needed to continue monitoring future outcomes and identifying any differences between recipients of COVID-19-positive and negative donors.”

Timucin Taner, MD, PhD, division chair of transplant surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said the study is important because it reaffirms the majority opinion among transplant physicians: These livers are safe.

In an interview, Dr. Taner suggested that Dr. Wang’s call for longer term data is “mostly science speak,” since 1 year of follow-up should be sufficient to determine liver viability.

Taner_Timucin_MN_web.jpg

“If a liver from a COVID-19 donor behaved well for a year, then chances are it’s not going to behave badly [later on] because of the virus at the time of donation,” Dr. Taner said.

He said the reported trends in usage of COVID-positive livers reflect early hesitancy that waned with rising vaccination rates, and recognition that the virus could not be spread via liver donation.

“To date, the only transmission [of SARS-CoV-2] from a transplant has been from a lung transplant,” Dr. Taner said, “and that was back in the days that we didn’t know about this. Other organs don’t transmit the disease, so they are easily usable.”

These new data should further increase confidence among both health care providers and patients, he added.

“[This study is] reassuring to the patients on the waitlist that these organs are very safe to use,” Dr. Taner said. “We as the transplant society are comfortable using them without any hesitation.”

The investigators and Dr. Taner disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Transplanting livers from deceased donors who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 is safe and has no significant impact on short-term outcomes of allografts or recipients, based on a national study with the longest follow-up to date.

Using livers from deceased patients with COVID-19 could be an opportunity expand organ availability, reported principal investigator Nadim Mahmud, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues.

Findings were presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, a few centers trialed transplanting solid organs from COVID-19 positive donors with promising initial results,” presenting author Roy X. Wang, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a written comment. “However, these were smaller experiences with short follow-up that were not exclusively focused on liver transplantation. We wanted to explore the safety of liver transplantation from COVID-19 positive donors using a large national dataset with the longest follow up time to date.”

The dataset included 13,096 COVID-negative donors and 299 COVID-positive donors who died between July 2020 and July 2022, with cases and controls matched via propensity scoring. COVID-positive donors were significantly more likely to be younger and have died of brain death. Beyond this difference in age, no significant demographic differences were detected.

After 1 year of follow-up, no statistically significant differences in patient survival (subhazard ratio, 1.11; log-rank P = .70) or allograft survival (hazard ratio, 1.44; log-rank P = .14) were detected when comparing livers transplanted from positive versus negative donors.

“Our findings support and expand upon the results from earlier studies,” Dr. Wang concluded. “Liver transplant from COVID-19-positive donors has acceptable short-term outcomes and may represent an opportunity to expand organ access.”

Still, more work is needed to assess other clinical metrics and long-term outcomes, he added.

“While we were able to show similar patient and graft survival post-transplant between COVID-19-positive and negative donors, rates of other complications were not investigated such as episodes of rejection, liver injury, and hospitalizations,” Dr. Wang said. “Due to data limitations, we are only able to report on outcomes up to 1 year post transplant. Additional investigation will be needed to continue monitoring future outcomes and identifying any differences between recipients of COVID-19-positive and negative donors.”

Timucin Taner, MD, PhD, division chair of transplant surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said the study is important because it reaffirms the majority opinion among transplant physicians: These livers are safe.

In an interview, Dr. Taner suggested that Dr. Wang’s call for longer term data is “mostly science speak,” since 1 year of follow-up should be sufficient to determine liver viability.

Taner_Timucin_MN_web.jpg

“If a liver from a COVID-19 donor behaved well for a year, then chances are it’s not going to behave badly [later on] because of the virus at the time of donation,” Dr. Taner said.

He said the reported trends in usage of COVID-positive livers reflect early hesitancy that waned with rising vaccination rates, and recognition that the virus could not be spread via liver donation.

“To date, the only transmission [of SARS-CoV-2] from a transplant has been from a lung transplant,” Dr. Taner said, “and that was back in the days that we didn’t know about this. Other organs don’t transmit the disease, so they are easily usable.”

These new data should further increase confidence among both health care providers and patients, he added.

“[This study is] reassuring to the patients on the waitlist that these organs are very safe to use,” Dr. Taner said. “We as the transplant society are comfortable using them without any hesitation.”

The investigators and Dr. Taner disclosed no conflicts of interest.

More than one out of three adults in the United States could have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by 2050, substantially increasing the national clinical burden, according to investigators.

These findings suggest that health care systems should prepare for “large increases” in cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and need for liver transplants, reported lead author Phuc Le, PhD, MPH, of the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues.

Le_Phuc_OH_web.jpg

“Following the alarming rise in prevalence of obesity and diabetes, NAFLD is projected to become the leading indication for liver transplant in the United States in the next decade,” Dr. Le and colleagues wrote in their abstract for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. “A better understanding of the clinical burden associated with NAFLD will enable health systems to prepare to meet this imminent demand from patients.”

To this end, Dr. Le and colleagues developed an agent-based state transition model to predict future prevalence of NAFLD and associated outcomes.

In the first part of the model, the investigators simulated population growth in the United States using Census Bureau data, including new births and immigration, from the year 2000 onward. The second part of the model simulated natural progression of NAFLD in adults via 14 associated conditions and events, including steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), HCC, liver transplants, liver-related mortality, and others.

By first comparing simulated findings with actual findings between 2000 and 2018, the investigators confirmed that their model could reliably predict the intended epidemiological parameters.

Next, they turned their model toward the future.

It predicted that the prevalence of NAFLD among US adults will rise from 27.8% in 2020 to 34.3% in 2050. Over the same timeframe, prevalence of NASH is predicted to increase from 20.0% to 21.8%, proportion of NAFLD cases developing cirrhosis is expected to increase from 1.9% to 3.1%, and liver-related mortality is estimated to rise from 0.4% to 1% of all deaths.

The model also predicted that the burden of HCC will increase from 10,400 to 19,300 new cases per year, while liver transplant burden will more than double, from 1,700 to 4,200 transplants per year.

“Our model forecasts substantial clinical burden of NAFLD over the next three decades,” Dr. Le said in a virtual press conference. “And in the absence of effective treatments, health systems should plan for large increases in the number of liver cancer cases and the need for liver transplant.”

During the press conference, Norah Terrault, MD, president of the AASLD from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, noted that all of the reported outcomes, including increasing rates of liver cancer, cirrhosis, and transplants are “potentially preventable.”

Terrault_Norah_CA_1_web.jpg

Dr. Terrault went on to suggest ways of combating this increasing burden of NAFLD, which she referred to as metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the name now recommended by the AASLD.

“There’s no way we’re going to be able to transplant our way out of this,” Dr. Terrault said. “We need to be bringing greater awareness both to patients, as well as to providers about how we seek out the diagnosis. And we need to bring greater awareness to the population around the things that contribute to MASLD.”

Rates of obesity and diabetes continue to rise, Dr. Terrault said, explaining why MASLD is more common than ever. To counteract these trends, she called for greater awareness of driving factors, such as dietary choices and sedentary lifestyle.

“These are all really important messages that we want to get out to the population, and are really the cornerstones for how we approach the management of patients who have MASLD,” Dr. Terrault said.

In discussion with Dr. Terrault, Dr. Le agreed that increased education may help stem the rising tide of disease, while treatment advances could also increase the odds of a brighter future.

“If we improve our management of NAFLD, or NAFLD-related comorbidities, and if we can develop an effective treatment for NAFLD, then obviously the future would not be so dark,” Dr. Le said, noting promising phase 3 data that would be presented at the meeting. “We are hopeful that the future of disease burden will not be as bad as our model predicts.”

The study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The investigators disclosed no conflicts of interest.

More than one out of three adults in the United States could have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by 2050, substantially increasing the national clinical burden, according to investigators.

These findings suggest that health care systems should prepare for “large increases” in cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and need for liver transplants, reported lead author Phuc Le, PhD, MPH, of the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues.

Le_Phuc_OH_web.jpg

“Following the alarming rise in prevalence of obesity and diabetes, NAFLD is projected to become the leading indication for liver transplant in the United States in the next decade,” Dr. Le and colleagues wrote in their abstract for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. “A better understanding of the clinical burden associated with NAFLD will enable health systems to prepare to meet this imminent demand from patients.”

To this end, Dr. Le and colleagues developed an agent-based state transition model to predict future prevalence of NAFLD and associated outcomes.

In the first part of the model, the investigators simulated population growth in the United States using Census Bureau data, including new births and immigration, from the year 2000 onward. The second part of the model simulated natural progression of NAFLD in adults via 14 associated conditions and events, including steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), HCC, liver transplants, liver-related mortality, and others.

By first comparing simulated findings with actual findings between 2000 and 2018, the investigators confirmed that their model could reliably predict the intended epidemiological parameters.

Next, they turned their model toward the future.

It predicted that the prevalence of NAFLD among US adults will rise from 27.8% in 2020 to 34.3% in 2050. Over the same timeframe, prevalence of NASH is predicted to increase from 20.0% to 21.8%, proportion of NAFLD cases developing cirrhosis is expected to increase from 1.9% to 3.1%, and liver-related mortality is estimated to rise from 0.4% to 1% of all deaths.

The model also predicted that the burden of HCC will increase from 10,400 to 19,300 new cases per year, while liver transplant burden will more than double, from 1,700 to 4,200 transplants per year.

“Our model forecasts substantial clinical burden of NAFLD over the next three decades,” Dr. Le said in a virtual press conference. “And in the absence of effective treatments, health systems should plan for large increases in the number of liver cancer cases and the need for liver transplant.”

During the press conference, Norah Terrault, MD, president of the AASLD from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, noted that all of the reported outcomes, including increasing rates of liver cancer, cirrhosis, and transplants are “potentially preventable.”

Terrault_Norah_CA_1_web.jpg

Dr. Terrault went on to suggest ways of combating this increasing burden of NAFLD, which she referred to as metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the name now recommended by the AASLD.

“There’s no way we’re going to be able to transplant our way out of this,” Dr. Terrault said. “We need to be bringing greater awareness both to patients, as well as to providers about how we seek out the diagnosis. And we need to bring greater awareness to the population around the things that contribute to MASLD.”

Rates of obesity and diabetes continue to rise, Dr. Terrault said, explaining why MASLD is more common than ever. To counteract these trends, she called for greater awareness of driving factors, such as dietary choices and sedentary lifestyle.

“These are all really important messages that we want to get out to the population, and are really the cornerstones for how we approach the management of patients who have MASLD,” Dr. Terrault said.

In discussion with Dr. Terrault, Dr. Le agreed that increased education may help stem the rising tide of disease, while treatment advances could also increase the odds of a brighter future.

“If we improve our management of NAFLD, or NAFLD-related comorbidities, and if we can develop an effective treatment for NAFLD, then obviously the future would not be so dark,” Dr. Le said, noting promising phase 3 data that would be presented at the meeting. “We are hopeful that the future of disease burden will not be as bad as our model predicts.”

The study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The investigators disclosed no conflicts of interest.

More than one out of three adults in the United States could have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by 2050, substantially increasing the national clinical burden, according to investigators.

These findings suggest that health care systems should prepare for “large increases” in cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and need for liver transplants, reported lead author Phuc Le, PhD, MPH, of the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues.

Le_Phuc_OH_web.jpg

“Following the alarming rise in prevalence of obesity and diabetes, NAFLD is projected to become the leading indication for liver transplant in the United States in the next decade,” Dr. Le and colleagues wrote in their abstract for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. “A better understanding of the clinical burden associated with NAFLD will enable health systems to prepare to meet this imminent demand from patients.”

To this end, Dr. Le and colleagues developed an agent-based state transition model to predict future prevalence of NAFLD and associated outcomes.

In the first part of the model, the investigators simulated population growth in the United States using Census Bureau data, including new births and immigration, from the year 2000 onward. The second part of the model simulated natural progression of NAFLD in adults via 14 associated conditions and events, including steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), HCC, liver transplants, liver-related mortality, and others.

By first comparing simulated findings with actual findings between 2000 and 2018, the investigators confirmed that their model could reliably predict the intended epidemiological parameters.

Next, they turned their model toward the future.

It predicted that the prevalence of NAFLD among US adults will rise from 27.8% in 2020 to 34.3% in 2050. Over the same timeframe, prevalence of NASH is predicted to increase from 20.0% to 21.8%, proportion of NAFLD cases developing cirrhosis is expected to increase from 1.9% to 3.1%, and liver-related mortality is estimated to rise from 0.4% to 1% of all deaths.

The model also predicted that the burden of HCC will increase from 10,400 to 19,300 new cases per year, while liver transplant burden will more than double, from 1,700 to 4,200 transplants per year.

“Our model forecasts substantial clinical burden of NAFLD over the next three decades,” Dr. Le said in a virtual press conference. “And in the absence of effective treatments, health systems should plan for large increases in the number of liver cancer cases and the need for liver transplant.”

During the press conference, Norah Terrault, MD, president of the AASLD from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, noted that all of the reported outcomes, including increasing rates of liver cancer, cirrhosis, and transplants are “potentially preventable.”

Terrault_Norah_CA_1_web.jpg

Dr. Terrault went on to suggest ways of combating this increasing burden of NAFLD, which she referred to as metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the name now recommended by the AASLD.

“There’s no way we’re going to be able to transplant our way out of this,” Dr. Terrault said. “We need to be bringing greater awareness both to patients, as well as to providers about how we seek out the diagnosis. And we need to bring greater awareness to the population around the things that contribute to MASLD.”

Rates of obesity and diabetes continue to rise, Dr. Terrault said, explaining why MASLD is more common than ever. To counteract these trends, she called for greater awareness of driving factors, such as dietary choices and sedentary lifestyle.

“These are all really important messages that we want to get out to the population, and are really the cornerstones for how we approach the management of patients who have MASLD,” Dr. Terrault said.

In discussion with Dr. Terrault, Dr. Le agreed that increased education may help stem the rising tide of disease, while treatment advances could also increase the odds of a brighter future.

“If we improve our management of NAFLD, or NAFLD-related comorbidities, and if we can develop an effective treatment for NAFLD, then obviously the future would not be so dark,” Dr. Le said, noting promising phase 3 data that would be presented at the meeting. “We are hopeful that the future of disease burden will not be as bad as our model predicts.”

The study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The investigators disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Adolescents facing food insecurity have a significantly increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), likely due to overconsumption of low-cost, ultra-processed, unbalanced diets, according to a recent study.

These findings suggest that more work is needed to ensure that eligible adolescents can access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and have opportunities to engage in physical activities through school-associated programs, reported principal investigator Zobair M. Younossi, MD, MPH, professor and chairman of the Beatty Liver and Obesity Research Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, and colleagues.

Younossi_Zobair_M_web.jpg

Dr. Younossi presented the findings in November during a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“Food insecurity among children is about 10.2% in the United States,” Dr. Younossi said. “[Food insecurity has] been shown to be a risk factor for MASLD among adults, but the data and children and adolescents are really lacking at the moment.”

To address this knowledge gap, Dr. Younossi and colleagues analyzed data from 771 adolescents aged 12-18 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017-2018). Among these participants, 9.8% reported food insecurity and 10.8% had MASLD. Rates of obesity and central obesity were 22.5% and 45.4%, respectively, while 1.0% had diabetes and 20.9% had prediabetes.

Among adolescents facing food insecurity, more than half (51.5%) did not eat enough food, a vast majority (93.2%) could not access a balanced meal, and almost all (98.9%) relied upon low-cost food for daily sustenance.

The prevalence of MASLD in the food insecure group was almost twice as high as in the food secure group (18.7% vs 9.9%), and advanced fibrosis was about 9 times more common (2.8% vs. 0.3%). Food insecure participants were also more likely to come from a low-income household (70.4% vs. 25.7%) and participate in SNAP (62.4% vs. 25.1%).

Adjusting for SNAP participation, demographic factors, and metabolic disease showed that food insecurity independently increased risk of MASLD by more than twofold (odds ratio [OR], 2.62; 95% CI, 1.07–6.41). The negative effect of food insecurity was almost twice as strong in participants living in a low-income household (OR, 4.79; 95% CI, 1.44–15.86).

“The association between food insecurity and MASLD/NAFLD is most likely the result of not being able to eat a balanced meal and more likely having to purchase low-cost food,” Dr. Younossi said. “Together, these factors may lead to a cycle of overeating along with the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened food and beverages.”

He went on to suggest that more work is needed to remove “systemic and structural barriers” that prevent eligible adolescents from participating in SNAP, while offering support so they can participate in “more physical activity in school and in after-school programs.”

Elliot Benjamin Tapper, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, recently published a similar study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology linking food scarcity and MASLD in adults.

Tapper_Elliot_Benjamin_MI_web.jpg

In an interview, Dr. Tapper praised this new study by Dr. Younossi and colleagues because it “identifies a serious unmet need” among younger individuals, who may stand to benefit most from early intervention.

“The goal [of screening] is to prevent the development of progressive disease,” Dr. Tapper said. “Our current guidelines for screening for advanced liver disease and people with risk factors focus exclusively on adults. If you waited longer, then there’s a risk that these [younger] people [in the study] would have progressed to a later stage of disease.”

Dr. Tapper predicted increased enthusiasm for MAFLD screening among adolescents in response to these findings, but he cautioned that conventional educational intervention is unlikely to yield significant benefit.

“If you’re food insecure, you can’t go out and buy salmon and olive oil to follow the Mediterranean diet,” Dr. Tapper said. In this era, where the people who are at risk tomorrow are young and food insecure, we have to come up with a way of tailoring our interventions to the means that are available to these patients.”

To this end, health care providers need to collaborate with individuals who have personally dealt with food scarcity to implement practicable interventions.

“Referral to social work has to be paired with some kind of standard teaching,” Dr. Tapper said. “How would I use social and nutritional assistance programs to eat in a liver-healthy way? What can I avoid? [Educational materials] should be written by and edited by people with lived experience; i.e., people who have food insecurity or have walked a mile in those shoes.”

Dr. Younossi disclosed relationships with Merck, Abbott, AstraZeneca, and others. Dr. Tapper disclosed relationships with Takeda, Novo Nordisk, Madrigal, and others.

Adolescents facing food insecurity have a significantly increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), likely due to overconsumption of low-cost, ultra-processed, unbalanced diets, according to a recent study.

These findings suggest that more work is needed to ensure that eligible adolescents can access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and have opportunities to engage in physical activities through school-associated programs, reported principal investigator Zobair M. Younossi, MD, MPH, professor and chairman of the Beatty Liver and Obesity Research Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, and colleagues.

Younossi_Zobair_M_web.jpg

Dr. Younossi presented the findings in November during a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“Food insecurity among children is about 10.2% in the United States,” Dr. Younossi said. “[Food insecurity has] been shown to be a risk factor for MASLD among adults, but the data and children and adolescents are really lacking at the moment.”

To address this knowledge gap, Dr. Younossi and colleagues analyzed data from 771 adolescents aged 12-18 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017-2018). Among these participants, 9.8% reported food insecurity and 10.8% had MASLD. Rates of obesity and central obesity were 22.5% and 45.4%, respectively, while 1.0% had diabetes and 20.9% had prediabetes.

Among adolescents facing food insecurity, more than half (51.5%) did not eat enough food, a vast majority (93.2%) could not access a balanced meal, and almost all (98.9%) relied upon low-cost food for daily sustenance.

The prevalence of MASLD in the food insecure group was almost twice as high as in the food secure group (18.7% vs 9.9%), and advanced fibrosis was about 9 times more common (2.8% vs. 0.3%). Food insecure participants were also more likely to come from a low-income household (70.4% vs. 25.7%) and participate in SNAP (62.4% vs. 25.1%).

Adjusting for SNAP participation, demographic factors, and metabolic disease showed that food insecurity independently increased risk of MASLD by more than twofold (odds ratio [OR], 2.62; 95% CI, 1.07–6.41). The negative effect of food insecurity was almost twice as strong in participants living in a low-income household (OR, 4.79; 95% CI, 1.44–15.86).

“The association between food insecurity and MASLD/NAFLD is most likely the result of not being able to eat a balanced meal and more likely having to purchase low-cost food,” Dr. Younossi said. “Together, these factors may lead to a cycle of overeating along with the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened food and beverages.”

He went on to suggest that more work is needed to remove “systemic and structural barriers” that prevent eligible adolescents from participating in SNAP, while offering support so they can participate in “more physical activity in school and in after-school programs.”

Elliot Benjamin Tapper, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, recently published a similar study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology linking food scarcity and MASLD in adults.

Tapper_Elliot_Benjamin_MI_web.jpg

In an interview, Dr. Tapper praised this new study by Dr. Younossi and colleagues because it “identifies a serious unmet need” among younger individuals, who may stand to benefit most from early intervention.

“The goal [of screening] is to prevent the development of progressive disease,” Dr. Tapper said. “Our current guidelines for screening for advanced liver disease and people with risk factors focus exclusively on adults. If you waited longer, then there’s a risk that these [younger] people [in the study] would have progressed to a later stage of disease.”

Dr. Tapper predicted increased enthusiasm for MAFLD screening among adolescents in response to these findings, but he cautioned that conventional educational intervention is unlikely to yield significant benefit.

“If you’re food insecure, you can’t go out and buy salmon and olive oil to follow the Mediterranean diet,” Dr. Tapper said. In this era, where the people who are at risk tomorrow are young and food insecure, we have to come up with a way of tailoring our interventions to the means that are available to these patients.”

To this end, health care providers need to collaborate with individuals who have personally dealt with food scarcity to implement practicable interventions.

“Referral to social work has to be paired with some kind of standard teaching,” Dr. Tapper said. “How would I use social and nutritional assistance programs to eat in a liver-healthy way? What can I avoid? [Educational materials] should be written by and edited by people with lived experience; i.e., people who have food insecurity or have walked a mile in those shoes.”

Dr. Younossi disclosed relationships with Merck, Abbott, AstraZeneca, and others. Dr. Tapper disclosed relationships with Takeda, Novo Nordisk, Madrigal, and others.

Adolescents facing food insecurity have a significantly increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), likely due to overconsumption of low-cost, ultra-processed, unbalanced diets, according to a recent study.

These findings suggest that more work is needed to ensure that eligible adolescents can access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and have opportunities to engage in physical activities through school-associated programs, reported principal investigator Zobair M. Younossi, MD, MPH, professor and chairman of the Beatty Liver and Obesity Research Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, and colleagues.

Younossi_Zobair_M_web.jpg

Dr. Younossi presented the findings in November during a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“Food insecurity among children is about 10.2% in the United States,” Dr. Younossi said. “[Food insecurity has] been shown to be a risk factor for MASLD among adults, but the data and children and adolescents are really lacking at the moment.”

To address this knowledge gap, Dr. Younossi and colleagues analyzed data from 771 adolescents aged 12-18 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017-2018). Among these participants, 9.8% reported food insecurity and 10.8% had MASLD. Rates of obesity and central obesity were 22.5% and 45.4%, respectively, while 1.0% had diabetes and 20.9% had prediabetes.

Among adolescents facing food insecurity, more than half (51.5%) did not eat enough food, a vast majority (93.2%) could not access a balanced meal, and almost all (98.9%) relied upon low-cost food for daily sustenance.

The prevalence of MASLD in the food insecure group was almost twice as high as in the food secure group (18.7% vs 9.9%), and advanced fibrosis was about 9 times more common (2.8% vs. 0.3%). Food insecure participants were also more likely to come from a low-income household (70.4% vs. 25.7%) and participate in SNAP (62.4% vs. 25.1%).

Adjusting for SNAP participation, demographic factors, and metabolic disease showed that food insecurity independently increased risk of MASLD by more than twofold (odds ratio [OR], 2.62; 95% CI, 1.07–6.41). The negative effect of food insecurity was almost twice as strong in participants living in a low-income household (OR, 4.79; 95% CI, 1.44–15.86).

“The association between food insecurity and MASLD/NAFLD is most likely the result of not being able to eat a balanced meal and more likely having to purchase low-cost food,” Dr. Younossi said. “Together, these factors may lead to a cycle of overeating along with the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened food and beverages.”

He went on to suggest that more work is needed to remove “systemic and structural barriers” that prevent eligible adolescents from participating in SNAP, while offering support so they can participate in “more physical activity in school and in after-school programs.”

Elliot Benjamin Tapper, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, recently published a similar study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology linking food scarcity and MASLD in adults.

Tapper_Elliot_Benjamin_MI_web.jpg

In an interview, Dr. Tapper praised this new study by Dr. Younossi and colleagues because it “identifies a serious unmet need” among younger individuals, who may stand to benefit most from early intervention.

“The goal [of screening] is to prevent the development of progressive disease,” Dr. Tapper said. “Our current guidelines for screening for advanced liver disease and people with risk factors focus exclusively on adults. If you waited longer, then there’s a risk that these [younger] people [in the study] would have progressed to a later stage of disease.”

Dr. Tapper predicted increased enthusiasm for MAFLD screening among adolescents in response to these findings, but he cautioned that conventional educational intervention is unlikely to yield significant benefit.

“If you’re food insecure, you can’t go out and buy salmon and olive oil to follow the Mediterranean diet,” Dr. Tapper said. In this era, where the people who are at risk tomorrow are young and food insecure, we have to come up with a way of tailoring our interventions to the means that are available to these patients.”

To this end, health care providers need to collaborate with individuals who have personally dealt with food scarcity to implement practicable interventions.

“Referral to social work has to be paired with some kind of standard teaching,” Dr. Tapper said. “How would I use social and nutritional assistance programs to eat in a liver-healthy way? What can I avoid? [Educational materials] should be written by and edited by people with lived experience; i.e., people who have food insecurity or have walked a mile in those shoes.”

Dr. Younossi disclosed relationships with Merck, Abbott, AstraZeneca, and others. Dr. Tapper disclosed relationships with Takeda, Novo Nordisk, Madrigal, and others.

BOSTON – Patients with metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly NAFLD) without cirrhosis who took daily low-dose aspirin in a double-blind randomized trial demonstrated significant reductions in liver fat content over 6 months compared with similar patients who took a placebo, study results show.

“In MASLD without cirrhosis, low-dose aspirin, 81 milligrams daily, led to decreases in liver fat and improved markers of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis,” reported Robert M. Wilechansky, MD, a transplant hepatology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“It was safe and well tolerated in this study, but we would like to see larger, longer-term clinical trials to test the efficacy of aspirin for improving histology and preventing adverse outcomes in MASLD,” he said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“We don’t have current plans, to my knowledge, to test full-dose aspirin,” he said in an interview. “I’m encouraged by the results with low-dose aspirin, and I think that, given the risk profile, using a lower dose is preferable.”
 

Reduction in inflammation

Although promising therapies for MASLD are in development, none are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, prompting Dr. Wilechansky and colleagues to investigate aspirin, with its anti-inflammatory properties, as a potential treatment.

In preclinical studies, aspirin has been shown to have both anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects in the liver through inhibition of cycloxygenase-2 and platelet-derived growth factor signaling, as well as through modulation of bioactive lipids, Dr. Wilechansky said.

In observational studies, use of aspirin was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis progression in patients with MASLD, and there was a decrease in the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver-related mortality among patients with viral hepatitis, he noted.

As for the potential mechanism of action of aspirin for patients with MASLD, Dr. Wilechansky noted that there may be some reduction in steatosis, and “if there is a reduction in inflammation, we may see some reduction in steatohepatitis.”
 

Study details

To see whether the so-called “wonder drug” could work wonders for patients with MASLD without cirrhosis, the researchers recruited 80 adults with MASLD and randomly assigned them to receive either aspirin 81 mg once daily or placebo for 6 months.

Patients with baseline cirrhosis or other liver disease, heavy drinkers, those who had used aspirin within 6 months, or those who used other antiplatelet or anticoagulant agents were excluded, as were patients with severe renal or cardiovascular disease, active cancer, pregnancy, were breastfeeding, had thrombocytopenia, or had undergone bariatric surgery within the past 2 years.

At baseline, 36.3% of all patients had F2-F3 fibrosis, as determined by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), and of 44 patients who had previously undergone liver biopsy, 37 (84.1%) were confirmed to have steatohepatitis.

At 6 months, the absolute change in hepatic fat fraction (HFF) from baseline, the primary endpoint, was a decline of 6.1% for patients taking aspirin, compared with a 4.2% increase for patients taking placebo, which translates into a 10.3% difference in favor of aspirin (P = .009).

The relative change in HFF, a secondary endpoint, for aspirin versus placebo was –59.2% (P = .003).

In addition, the use of aspirin was associated with a relative reduction in HFF of at least 30% among 16 of the 40 patients who received it.

Aspirin was significantly better than placebo for the secondary endpoints of absolute change in hepatic fat by MRI proton-density fat fraction, with –2.9% versus placebo (P = .018), and the relative change in hepatic fat by MRI-PDFF, with a difference of –24.8% versus placebo (P = .009).

Aspirin was also associated with significantly greater reductions in liver transaminase levels and liver stiffness by VCTE.

About one-third of patients in each study arm had at least one adverse event. There was only one aspirin-related adverse event (heartburn) that led to discontinuation. There were no serious bleeding events in either arm.

“We’re going to have to consider stratifying by aspirin use now in our trials,” said Mark Hartman, MD, from Eli Lilly in Indianapolis.
 

Significant weight gain in placebo group

Mary E. McCarthy Rinella, MD, FAASLD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, commented that the 4% increase in liver fat in the control arm “is kind of a lot for a placebo, and I’m wondering how much that accounts for the [difference] that you saw.” Dr. Rinella served as a comoderator of the session.

Dr. Wilechansky said that there were a few outliers in the placebo group who experienced significant weight gain during the study, including one patient who gained 15 kg over 6 months.

A post hoc analysis suggested that most of the increase in hepatic fat among patients who took placebo could have been among that handful of patients, he added. When those patients were removed in an adjusted analysis, the difference between the aspirin and placebo groups was smaller but remained significant.

The trial was sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Wilechansky, Dr. Rinella, and Dr. Hartman had no relevant disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – Patients with metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly NAFLD) without cirrhosis who took daily low-dose aspirin in a double-blind randomized trial demonstrated significant reductions in liver fat content over 6 months compared with similar patients who took a placebo, study results show.

“In MASLD without cirrhosis, low-dose aspirin, 81 milligrams daily, led to decreases in liver fat and improved markers of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis,” reported Robert M. Wilechansky, MD, a transplant hepatology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“It was safe and well tolerated in this study, but we would like to see larger, longer-term clinical trials to test the efficacy of aspirin for improving histology and preventing adverse outcomes in MASLD,” he said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“We don’t have current plans, to my knowledge, to test full-dose aspirin,” he said in an interview. “I’m encouraged by the results with low-dose aspirin, and I think that, given the risk profile, using a lower dose is preferable.”
 

Reduction in inflammation

Although promising therapies for MASLD are in development, none are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, prompting Dr. Wilechansky and colleagues to investigate aspirin, with its anti-inflammatory properties, as a potential treatment.

In preclinical studies, aspirin has been shown to have both anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects in the liver through inhibition of cycloxygenase-2 and platelet-derived growth factor signaling, as well as through modulation of bioactive lipids, Dr. Wilechansky said.

In observational studies, use of aspirin was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis progression in patients with MASLD, and there was a decrease in the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver-related mortality among patients with viral hepatitis, he noted.

As for the potential mechanism of action of aspirin for patients with MASLD, Dr. Wilechansky noted that there may be some reduction in steatosis, and “if there is a reduction in inflammation, we may see some reduction in steatohepatitis.”
 

Study details

To see whether the so-called “wonder drug” could work wonders for patients with MASLD without cirrhosis, the researchers recruited 80 adults with MASLD and randomly assigned them to receive either aspirin 81 mg once daily or placebo for 6 months.

Patients with baseline cirrhosis or other liver disease, heavy drinkers, those who had used aspirin within 6 months, or those who used other antiplatelet or anticoagulant agents were excluded, as were patients with severe renal or cardiovascular disease, active cancer, pregnancy, were breastfeeding, had thrombocytopenia, or had undergone bariatric surgery within the past 2 years.

At baseline, 36.3% of all patients had F2-F3 fibrosis, as determined by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), and of 44 patients who had previously undergone liver biopsy, 37 (84.1%) were confirmed to have steatohepatitis.

At 6 months, the absolute change in hepatic fat fraction (HFF) from baseline, the primary endpoint, was a decline of 6.1% for patients taking aspirin, compared with a 4.2% increase for patients taking placebo, which translates into a 10.3% difference in favor of aspirin (P = .009).

The relative change in HFF, a secondary endpoint, for aspirin versus placebo was –59.2% (P = .003).

In addition, the use of aspirin was associated with a relative reduction in HFF of at least 30% among 16 of the 40 patients who received it.

Aspirin was significantly better than placebo for the secondary endpoints of absolute change in hepatic fat by MRI proton-density fat fraction, with –2.9% versus placebo (P = .018), and the relative change in hepatic fat by MRI-PDFF, with a difference of –24.8% versus placebo (P = .009).

Aspirin was also associated with significantly greater reductions in liver transaminase levels and liver stiffness by VCTE.

About one-third of patients in each study arm had at least one adverse event. There was only one aspirin-related adverse event (heartburn) that led to discontinuation. There were no serious bleeding events in either arm.

“We’re going to have to consider stratifying by aspirin use now in our trials,” said Mark Hartman, MD, from Eli Lilly in Indianapolis.
 

Significant weight gain in placebo group

Mary E. McCarthy Rinella, MD, FAASLD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, commented that the 4% increase in liver fat in the control arm “is kind of a lot for a placebo, and I’m wondering how much that accounts for the [difference] that you saw.” Dr. Rinella served as a comoderator of the session.

Dr. Wilechansky said that there were a few outliers in the placebo group who experienced significant weight gain during the study, including one patient who gained 15 kg over 6 months.

A post hoc analysis suggested that most of the increase in hepatic fat among patients who took placebo could have been among that handful of patients, he added. When those patients were removed in an adjusted analysis, the difference between the aspirin and placebo groups was smaller but remained significant.

The trial was sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Wilechansky, Dr. Rinella, and Dr. Hartman had no relevant disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – Patients with metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly NAFLD) without cirrhosis who took daily low-dose aspirin in a double-blind randomized trial demonstrated significant reductions in liver fat content over 6 months compared with similar patients who took a placebo, study results show.

“In MASLD without cirrhosis, low-dose aspirin, 81 milligrams daily, led to decreases in liver fat and improved markers of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis,” reported Robert M. Wilechansky, MD, a transplant hepatology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“It was safe and well tolerated in this study, but we would like to see larger, longer-term clinical trials to test the efficacy of aspirin for improving histology and preventing adverse outcomes in MASLD,” he said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

“We don’t have current plans, to my knowledge, to test full-dose aspirin,” he said in an interview. “I’m encouraged by the results with low-dose aspirin, and I think that, given the risk profile, using a lower dose is preferable.”
 

Reduction in inflammation

Although promising therapies for MASLD are in development, none are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, prompting Dr. Wilechansky and colleagues to investigate aspirin, with its anti-inflammatory properties, as a potential treatment.

In preclinical studies, aspirin has been shown to have both anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects in the liver through inhibition of cycloxygenase-2 and platelet-derived growth factor signaling, as well as through modulation of bioactive lipids, Dr. Wilechansky said.

In observational studies, use of aspirin was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis progression in patients with MASLD, and there was a decrease in the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver-related mortality among patients with viral hepatitis, he noted.

As for the potential mechanism of action of aspirin for patients with MASLD, Dr. Wilechansky noted that there may be some reduction in steatosis, and “if there is a reduction in inflammation, we may see some reduction in steatohepatitis.”
 

Study details

To see whether the so-called “wonder drug” could work wonders for patients with MASLD without cirrhosis, the researchers recruited 80 adults with MASLD and randomly assigned them to receive either aspirin 81 mg once daily or placebo for 6 months.

Patients with baseline cirrhosis or other liver disease, heavy drinkers, those who had used aspirin within 6 months, or those who used other antiplatelet or anticoagulant agents were excluded, as were patients with severe renal or cardiovascular disease, active cancer, pregnancy, were breastfeeding, had thrombocytopenia, or had undergone bariatric surgery within the past 2 years.

At baseline, 36.3% of all patients had F2-F3 fibrosis, as determined by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), and of 44 patients who had previously undergone liver biopsy, 37 (84.1%) were confirmed to have steatohepatitis.

At 6 months, the absolute change in hepatic fat fraction (HFF) from baseline, the primary endpoint, was a decline of 6.1% for patients taking aspirin, compared with a 4.2% increase for patients taking placebo, which translates into a 10.3% difference in favor of aspirin (P = .009).

The relative change in HFF, a secondary endpoint, for aspirin versus placebo was –59.2% (P = .003).

In addition, the use of aspirin was associated with a relative reduction in HFF of at least 30% among 16 of the 40 patients who received it.

Aspirin was significantly better than placebo for the secondary endpoints of absolute change in hepatic fat by MRI proton-density fat fraction, with –2.9% versus placebo (P = .018), and the relative change in hepatic fat by MRI-PDFF, with a difference of –24.8% versus placebo (P = .009).

Aspirin was also associated with significantly greater reductions in liver transaminase levels and liver stiffness by VCTE.

About one-third of patients in each study arm had at least one adverse event. There was only one aspirin-related adverse event (heartburn) that led to discontinuation. There were no serious bleeding events in either arm.

“We’re going to have to consider stratifying by aspirin use now in our trials,” said Mark Hartman, MD, from Eli Lilly in Indianapolis.
 

Significant weight gain in placebo group

Mary E. McCarthy Rinella, MD, FAASLD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, commented that the 4% increase in liver fat in the control arm “is kind of a lot for a placebo, and I’m wondering how much that accounts for the [difference] that you saw.” Dr. Rinella served as a comoderator of the session.

Dr. Wilechansky said that there were a few outliers in the placebo group who experienced significant weight gain during the study, including one patient who gained 15 kg over 6 months.

A post hoc analysis suggested that most of the increase in hepatic fat among patients who took placebo could have been among that handful of patients, he added. When those patients were removed in an adjusted analysis, the difference between the aspirin and placebo groups was smaller but remained significant.

The trial was sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Wilechansky, Dr. Rinella, and Dr. Hartman had no relevant disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – With the current demand for type 2 diabetes drugs that both improve glycemic control and help patients shed large amounts of weight, liver specialists have speculated that the metabolic benefits could also extend to the liver.

Spoiler alert: they do.

In a retrospective study of patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who received either a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist, 87% of those who lost at least 3% of body weight within 8 weeks eventually experienced normalization of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, reported Takamasa Ohki, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the department of gastroenterology at Mitsui Memorial Hospital in Tokyo.

“Body weight reduction within 8 weeks after administration of these agents was an independent factor [that] contributed to rapid improvement of ALT. Maintenance of body weight and T2DM after normalization of ALT was also very important,” they wrote in a scientific poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
 

The biggest losers benefit most

Dr. Ohki and colleagues evaluated the effectiveness of SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists as treatment of MAFLD for patients with T2DM.

They conducted a retrospective study of 233 patients who had both conditions and who received either of the drug classes at their institution from June 2010 through December 2021; the most recent follow-up was in December 2022. The primary endpoint of the study was normalization of ALT values.

A total of 54 patients had a 3% or greater reduction in body weight within 8 weeks of beginning treatment with their respective drugs. The researchers found that for 47 of these patients (87%), ALT values normalized; the 12-, 24-, and 36-month cumulative normalization rates were 61%, 73%, and 80%, respectively.

In contrast, among the 179 patients who did not lose weight as robustly or rapidly, 137 (76.5%) demonstrated normalization of ALT, with cumulative normalization rates of 41%, 59% and 69%, respectively (P < .01).

In multivariate analysis that controlled for age, sex, smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia, weight reduction, and antidiabetes drug use, body weight reduction of at least 3% within 8 weeks of beginning treatment with either an SLT-2 or GLP-1 agent was associated independently with normalization of ALT, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.67 (P = .028).

Improvement of T2DM was an independent predictor for ALT normalization (HR, 0.64; P = .015).

Other factors contributing to ALT normalization included use of sulfonylurea (HR, 0.63; P < .01) and insulin (HR, 0.54; P < .01).

In all, 103 of the 184 patients with initial normalization of ALT values experienced a recurrence of ALT elevation during follow-up. In multivariate analysis, body weight gain and exacerbation of T2DM were independent factors for ALT reexacerbation (HR, 0.52 and 0.48, respectively; P < .01 for both comparisons).
 

Duration of effect uncertain

Philip A. Newsome, PhD, FRCPE, professor of experimental hepatology and honorary consultant hepatologist at the University of Birmingham, England, who was not involved in the study, has conducted research into the metabolic effects of SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists. In an interview, he said that both drug classes are likely to have positive near-term effects on metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) through their effects on glucose control and reduction in associated comorbidities.

“The unknown question,” he added, is what will happen in the long term. “I think there are some uncertainties around what proportion of patients will essentially be downstaged or downgraded such that they don’t develop any other problem; I suspect that will be the case in very many patients. However, I suspect there will also be a large proportion that end up requiring additional therapy above and beyond weight loss,” said Dr. Newsome.

The investigators did not report a funding source for the study. Dr. Ohki and colleagues have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Newsome has consulted on behalf of his institution with Novo Nordisk, BMS, Gilead, Pfizer, Poxel, and Intercept and has received a grant from Pharmaxis and Boehringer Ingelheim.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – With the current demand for type 2 diabetes drugs that both improve glycemic control and help patients shed large amounts of weight, liver specialists have speculated that the metabolic benefits could also extend to the liver.

Spoiler alert: they do.

In a retrospective study of patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who received either a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist, 87% of those who lost at least 3% of body weight within 8 weeks eventually experienced normalization of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, reported Takamasa Ohki, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the department of gastroenterology at Mitsui Memorial Hospital in Tokyo.

“Body weight reduction within 8 weeks after administration of these agents was an independent factor [that] contributed to rapid improvement of ALT. Maintenance of body weight and T2DM after normalization of ALT was also very important,” they wrote in a scientific poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
 

The biggest losers benefit most

Dr. Ohki and colleagues evaluated the effectiveness of SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists as treatment of MAFLD for patients with T2DM.

They conducted a retrospective study of 233 patients who had both conditions and who received either of the drug classes at their institution from June 2010 through December 2021; the most recent follow-up was in December 2022. The primary endpoint of the study was normalization of ALT values.

A total of 54 patients had a 3% or greater reduction in body weight within 8 weeks of beginning treatment with their respective drugs. The researchers found that for 47 of these patients (87%), ALT values normalized; the 12-, 24-, and 36-month cumulative normalization rates were 61%, 73%, and 80%, respectively.

In contrast, among the 179 patients who did not lose weight as robustly or rapidly, 137 (76.5%) demonstrated normalization of ALT, with cumulative normalization rates of 41%, 59% and 69%, respectively (P < .01).

In multivariate analysis that controlled for age, sex, smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia, weight reduction, and antidiabetes drug use, body weight reduction of at least 3% within 8 weeks of beginning treatment with either an SLT-2 or GLP-1 agent was associated independently with normalization of ALT, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.67 (P = .028).

Improvement of T2DM was an independent predictor for ALT normalization (HR, 0.64; P = .015).

Other factors contributing to ALT normalization included use of sulfonylurea (HR, 0.63; P < .01) and insulin (HR, 0.54; P < .01).

In all, 103 of the 184 patients with initial normalization of ALT values experienced a recurrence of ALT elevation during follow-up. In multivariate analysis, body weight gain and exacerbation of T2DM were independent factors for ALT reexacerbation (HR, 0.52 and 0.48, respectively; P < .01 for both comparisons).
 

Duration of effect uncertain

Philip A. Newsome, PhD, FRCPE, professor of experimental hepatology and honorary consultant hepatologist at the University of Birmingham, England, who was not involved in the study, has conducted research into the metabolic effects of SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists. In an interview, he said that both drug classes are likely to have positive near-term effects on metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) through their effects on glucose control and reduction in associated comorbidities.

“The unknown question,” he added, is what will happen in the long term. “I think there are some uncertainties around what proportion of patients will essentially be downstaged or downgraded such that they don’t develop any other problem; I suspect that will be the case in very many patients. However, I suspect there will also be a large proportion that end up requiring additional therapy above and beyond weight loss,” said Dr. Newsome.

The investigators did not report a funding source for the study. Dr. Ohki and colleagues have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Newsome has consulted on behalf of his institution with Novo Nordisk, BMS, Gilead, Pfizer, Poxel, and Intercept and has received a grant from Pharmaxis and Boehringer Ingelheim.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – With the current demand for type 2 diabetes drugs that both improve glycemic control and help patients shed large amounts of weight, liver specialists have speculated that the metabolic benefits could also extend to the liver.

Spoiler alert: they do.

In a retrospective study of patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who received either a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist, 87% of those who lost at least 3% of body weight within 8 weeks eventually experienced normalization of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, reported Takamasa Ohki, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the department of gastroenterology at Mitsui Memorial Hospital in Tokyo.

“Body weight reduction within 8 weeks after administration of these agents was an independent factor [that] contributed to rapid improvement of ALT. Maintenance of body weight and T2DM after normalization of ALT was also very important,” they wrote in a scientific poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
 

The biggest losers benefit most

Dr. Ohki and colleagues evaluated the effectiveness of SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists as treatment of MAFLD for patients with T2DM.

They conducted a retrospective study of 233 patients who had both conditions and who received either of the drug classes at their institution from June 2010 through December 2021; the most recent follow-up was in December 2022. The primary endpoint of the study was normalization of ALT values.

A total of 54 patients had a 3% or greater reduction in body weight within 8 weeks of beginning treatment with their respective drugs. The researchers found that for 47 of these patients (87%), ALT values normalized; the 12-, 24-, and 36-month cumulative normalization rates were 61%, 73%, and 80%, respectively.

In contrast, among the 179 patients who did not lose weight as robustly or rapidly, 137 (76.5%) demonstrated normalization of ALT, with cumulative normalization rates of 41%, 59% and 69%, respectively (P < .01).

In multivariate analysis that controlled for age, sex, smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia, weight reduction, and antidiabetes drug use, body weight reduction of at least 3% within 8 weeks of beginning treatment with either an SLT-2 or GLP-1 agent was associated independently with normalization of ALT, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.67 (P = .028).

Improvement of T2DM was an independent predictor for ALT normalization (HR, 0.64; P = .015).

Other factors contributing to ALT normalization included use of sulfonylurea (HR, 0.63; P < .01) and insulin (HR, 0.54; P < .01).

In all, 103 of the 184 patients with initial normalization of ALT values experienced a recurrence of ALT elevation during follow-up. In multivariate analysis, body weight gain and exacerbation of T2DM were independent factors for ALT reexacerbation (HR, 0.52 and 0.48, respectively; P < .01 for both comparisons).
 

Duration of effect uncertain

Philip A. Newsome, PhD, FRCPE, professor of experimental hepatology and honorary consultant hepatologist at the University of Birmingham, England, who was not involved in the study, has conducted research into the metabolic effects of SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists. In an interview, he said that both drug classes are likely to have positive near-term effects on metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) through their effects on glucose control and reduction in associated comorbidities.

“The unknown question,” he added, is what will happen in the long term. “I think there are some uncertainties around what proportion of patients will essentially be downstaged or downgraded such that they don’t develop any other problem; I suspect that will be the case in very many patients. However, I suspect there will also be a large proportion that end up requiring additional therapy above and beyond weight loss,” said Dr. Newsome.

The investigators did not report a funding source for the study. Dr. Ohki and colleagues have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Newsome has consulted on behalf of his institution with Novo Nordisk, BMS, Gilead, Pfizer, Poxel, and Intercept and has received a grant from Pharmaxis and Boehringer Ingelheim.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – The nomenclature may have changed, but the steady rise in the most common form of liver disease – metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly known as NAFLD) – is predicted to continue into the middle of this century.

That’s according to Phuc Le, PhD, MPH, and colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic. They created a mathematical model incorporating data on the growth of the U.S. population and the natural history of MASLD/NAFLD. The model projected a relative 23% increase in MASLD among U.S. adults from 2020 to 2050.

Le_Phuc_OH_web.jpg

“Our model forecasts a substantial clinical burden of NAFLD over the next 3 decades. In the absence of effective treatments, health systems should plan for large increases in the number of liver cancer cases and the need for liver transplant,” Dr. Le said in a media briefing held on Nov. 7 prior to her presentation of the data at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

The estimated worldwide prevalence of MASLD is 38%. In the United States, an estimated 27.8% of adults had MASLD as of 2020.

Dr. Le and colleagues wanted to get a clearer picture of the expected increase in the clinical burden of MASLD in the coming decades. The researchers used data from the medical literature to create an individual-level state transition model. They took into account projections of the growth of the U.S. population and the progression of MASLD and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) through stages of fibrosis to decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), transplant, and liver-related death as a proportion of all-cause mortality.
 

Validated model

They validated the model by testing it against liver outcomes from 2000 through 2018 and published data on the U.S. population. The model closely matched trends in MASLD prevalence, MASH proportion, HCC and liver transplant incidences, and overall survival rates for patients with MASLD.

As noted, the model predicted a steady increase in MASLD prevalence, from 27.8% in 2020 to 34.3% by 2050, a relative increase of about 23%. The model also predicted a slight uptick in the proportion of MASH among patients with MASLD, from 20% to 21.8%.

The investigators said that the prevalence of MASLD/MASH would likely remain relatively stable among people aged 18-29 years but would increase significantly for all other age groups.

In addition, the model predicted an increase in the proportion of cirrhosis in patients with MASLD from 1.9% to 3.1%, as well as a rise in liver-related deaths from 0.4% of all deaths in 2020 to 1% by 2050.

The investigators also foresaw a rise in HCC cases, from 10,400 annually to 19,300 by 2050 and a more than twofold increase in liver transplants, from 1,700 in 2020 to 4,200 in 2050.
 

A “tsunami” of liver disease

In the question-and-answer portion of the briefing, Norah Terrault, MD, AASLD president and chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, commented on the study findings and “the frightening trajectory in terms of disease burden.

Terrault_Norah_CA_1_web.jpg

“I’m thinking to myself there’s no way we’re going to be able to transplant our way out of this tsunami of disease that’s coming our way,” she said, and asked Dr. Le what policy or societal approaches might be implemented to help stem the tide.

“This is a really huge question,” Dr. Le acknowledged. The study only provides estimates of what the future burden of disease might be if there are no changes in clinical care for patients with MASLD or if the trajectory of contributing factors, such as obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases, continued to increase, she cautioned.

Raising awareness of MASLD/MASH and working to improve collaboration among liver specialists and general practitioners could help to flatten the curve, she suggested.

The study was supported by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Le and Dr. Terrault have disclosed no relevant financial relations.


A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – The nomenclature may have changed, but the steady rise in the most common form of liver disease – metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly known as NAFLD) – is predicted to continue into the middle of this century.

That’s according to Phuc Le, PhD, MPH, and colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic. They created a mathematical model incorporating data on the growth of the U.S. population and the natural history of MASLD/NAFLD. The model projected a relative 23% increase in MASLD among U.S. adults from 2020 to 2050.

Le_Phuc_OH_web.jpg

“Our model forecasts a substantial clinical burden of NAFLD over the next 3 decades. In the absence of effective treatments, health systems should plan for large increases in the number of liver cancer cases and the need for liver transplant,” Dr. Le said in a media briefing held on Nov. 7 prior to her presentation of the data at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

The estimated worldwide prevalence of MASLD is 38%. In the United States, an estimated 27.8% of adults had MASLD as of 2020.

Dr. Le and colleagues wanted to get a clearer picture of the expected increase in the clinical burden of MASLD in the coming decades. The researchers used data from the medical literature to create an individual-level state transition model. They took into account projections of the growth of the U.S. population and the progression of MASLD and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) through stages of fibrosis to decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), transplant, and liver-related death as a proportion of all-cause mortality.
 

Validated model

They validated the model by testing it against liver outcomes from 2000 through 2018 and published data on the U.S. population. The model closely matched trends in MASLD prevalence, MASH proportion, HCC and liver transplant incidences, and overall survival rates for patients with MASLD.

As noted, the model predicted a steady increase in MASLD prevalence, from 27.8% in 2020 to 34.3% by 2050, a relative increase of about 23%. The model also predicted a slight uptick in the proportion of MASH among patients with MASLD, from 20% to 21.8%.

The investigators said that the prevalence of MASLD/MASH would likely remain relatively stable among people aged 18-29 years but would increase significantly for all other age groups.

In addition, the model predicted an increase in the proportion of cirrhosis in patients with MASLD from 1.9% to 3.1%, as well as a rise in liver-related deaths from 0.4% of all deaths in 2020 to 1% by 2050.

The investigators also foresaw a rise in HCC cases, from 10,400 annually to 19,300 by 2050 and a more than twofold increase in liver transplants, from 1,700 in 2020 to 4,200 in 2050.
 

A “tsunami” of liver disease

In the question-and-answer portion of the briefing, Norah Terrault, MD, AASLD president and chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, commented on the study findings and “the frightening trajectory in terms of disease burden.

Terrault_Norah_CA_1_web.jpg

“I’m thinking to myself there’s no way we’re going to be able to transplant our way out of this tsunami of disease that’s coming our way,” she said, and asked Dr. Le what policy or societal approaches might be implemented to help stem the tide.

“This is a really huge question,” Dr. Le acknowledged. The study only provides estimates of what the future burden of disease might be if there are no changes in clinical care for patients with MASLD or if the trajectory of contributing factors, such as obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases, continued to increase, she cautioned.

Raising awareness of MASLD/MASH and working to improve collaboration among liver specialists and general practitioners could help to flatten the curve, she suggested.

The study was supported by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Le and Dr. Terrault have disclosed no relevant financial relations.


A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

BOSTON – The nomenclature may have changed, but the steady rise in the most common form of liver disease – metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly known as NAFLD) – is predicted to continue into the middle of this century.

That’s according to Phuc Le, PhD, MPH, and colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic. They created a mathematical model incorporating data on the growth of the U.S. population and the natural history of MASLD/NAFLD. The model projected a relative 23% increase in MASLD among U.S. adults from 2020 to 2050.

Le_Phuc_OH_web.jpg

“Our model forecasts a substantial clinical burden of NAFLD over the next 3 decades. In the absence of effective treatments, health systems should plan for large increases in the number of liver cancer cases and the need for liver transplant,” Dr. Le said in a media briefing held on Nov. 7 prior to her presentation of the data at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

The estimated worldwide prevalence of MASLD is 38%. In the United States, an estimated 27.8% of adults had MASLD as of 2020.

Dr. Le and colleagues wanted to get a clearer picture of the expected increase in the clinical burden of MASLD in the coming decades. The researchers used data from the medical literature to create an individual-level state transition model. They took into account projections of the growth of the U.S. population and the progression of MASLD and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) through stages of fibrosis to decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), transplant, and liver-related death as a proportion of all-cause mortality.
 

Validated model

They validated the model by testing it against liver outcomes from 2000 through 2018 and published data on the U.S. population. The model closely matched trends in MASLD prevalence, MASH proportion, HCC and liver transplant incidences, and overall survival rates for patients with MASLD.

As noted, the model predicted a steady increase in MASLD prevalence, from 27.8% in 2020 to 34.3% by 2050, a relative increase of about 23%. The model also predicted a slight uptick in the proportion of MASH among patients with MASLD, from 20% to 21.8%.

The investigators said that the prevalence of MASLD/MASH would likely remain relatively stable among people aged 18-29 years but would increase significantly for all other age groups.

In addition, the model predicted an increase in the proportion of cirrhosis in patients with MASLD from 1.9% to 3.1%, as well as a rise in liver-related deaths from 0.4% of all deaths in 2020 to 1% by 2050.

The investigators also foresaw a rise in HCC cases, from 10,400 annually to 19,300 by 2050 and a more than twofold increase in liver transplants, from 1,700 in 2020 to 4,200 in 2050.
 

A “tsunami” of liver disease

In the question-and-answer portion of the briefing, Norah Terrault, MD, AASLD president and chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, commented on the study findings and “the frightening trajectory in terms of disease burden.

Terrault_Norah_CA_1_web.jpg

“I’m thinking to myself there’s no way we’re going to be able to transplant our way out of this tsunami of disease that’s coming our way,” she said, and asked Dr. Le what policy or societal approaches might be implemented to help stem the tide.

“This is a really huge question,” Dr. Le acknowledged. The study only provides estimates of what the future burden of disease might be if there are no changes in clinical care for patients with MASLD or if the trajectory of contributing factors, such as obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases, continued to increase, she cautioned.

Raising awareness of MASLD/MASH and working to improve collaboration among liver specialists and general practitioners could help to flatten the curve, she suggested.

The study was supported by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Le and Dr. Terrault have disclosed no relevant financial relations.


A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.