Top news on NAFLD, NASH: cases in children, quality of life concerns, treatment updates
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Healio handpicked its top stories on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, which highlight risks for children with NAFLD, how fatigue relates to quality of life, treatment with resmetirom and more.
Prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals tied to ‘NAFLD epidemic’ in children
Prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be a cause of increased incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Vishal Midya, PhD, MStat, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of environmental medicine and public health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues reported that NAFLD is “increasingly diagnosed in childhood,” occurring in 6% to 10% of the general pediatric population and approximately 36% of children with obesity. Read more.
Type 2 diabetes incidence ‘30 times greater’ for children with NAFLD vs. high-risk groups
Researchers reported an increased risk for type 2 diabetes in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, highlighting the need for targeted prevention and screening, according to a study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
“There is a growing public health crisis as children with diabetes mature into adults with diabetes,” Jeffrey Schwimmer, MD, professor of pediatrics at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Fatty Liver Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, said in a related university press release. “We need to better understand how NAFLD contributes to type 2 diabetes risk in children so that we can actively work to prevent it.” Read more.
Fatigue linked to worse clinical prognosis, quality of life in patients with NAFLD
Lower fatigue scores at baseline correlated with adverse clinical events among patients with advanced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, according to research presented at the International Liver Congress.
“Fatigue is very common in patients with NAFLD. In other diseases, fatigue is associated with adverse outcomes, including higher mortality,” Zobair M. Younossi, MD, MPH, president of Inova Medicine Services and professor and chair of the department of medicine at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, told Healio. “Our aim was to see if, among well-defined NASH patients with advanced fibrosis, clinically significant fatigue is associated with liver complications.” Read more.
Resmetirom ‘has potential to be first medication approved’ for patients with NASH
Resmetirom was safe and well tolerated at 100 mg and 80 mg doses in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, according to late-breaking research presented at the International Liver Congress.
“The primary and key secondary endpoints from the study were achieved,” Stephen Harrison, MD, medical director for Pinnacle Clinical Research in San Antonio and visiting professor of hepatology at Oxford University, told Healio. “Resmetirom was safe and well tolerated and provided significant reductions in liver fat, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and other atherogenic lipids vs. placebo.” Read more.
Ozempic boosts cardiometabolic markers, falls short for fibrosis in NASH-related cirrhosis
Ozempic improved cardiometabolic parameters and markers of liver injury yet failed to improve liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and compensated cirrhosis, according to late-breaking data presented at the International Liver Congress.
“Patients with NASH and compensated cirrhosis are at a higher risk of liver-related and all-cause morbidity and mortality,” Rohit Loomba, MD, MHSc, director of hepatology and the NAFLD Research Center at UC San Diego School of Medicine, told attendees. “In a previous phase 2b, placebo-controlled study in patients with NASH without cirrhosis, the glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue [Ozempic (semaglutide, Novo Nordisk)] improved NASH resolution, metabolic parameters and was well-tolerated.” Read more.
NAFLD, alcohol-associated liver disease spur rise in global liver cancer deaths
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and alcohol-associated liver disease are among the main contributors of increased mortality related to chronic liver disease and liver cancer burden, according to research.
“Although viral hepatitis B and C and alcohol liver disease have historically been the drivers of burden of chronic liver disease and liver cancer, NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis have increasingly become more prominent,” Zobair Younossi, MD, MPH, president of Inova Health System Center for Liver Diseases, said. “The most recent meta-analysis suggests that the global prevalence of NAFLD is 29%, and in 2020 NAFLD was the second indication for all liver transplants in the U.S.” Read more.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease linked to increased risk for dementia
Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease had an increased risk for dementia, with stronger risk existing for those with comorbid heart disease or stroke, according to a study published in Neurology.
“Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common chronic liver disease, affecting 25% of the global population,” Ying Shang, PhD, of the department of medicine at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and colleagues wrote. “While such metabolic disorders are not unique for NAFLD or dementia, it is unclear if NAFLD contributes to dementia independent of these factors.” Read more.