10 Top Studies from The Liver Meeting 2023: At-a-Glance
The Liver Meeting is the annual international scientific gathering sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD). The 2023 meeting provided breaking news on research across areas including viral hepatitis, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, liver cancer, transplantation, and more.
Of particular note for primary care clinicians were studies on promising, simplified algorithms and risk scores to help effectively stratify patients for specialist referral, the impact of the interplay between hepatic steatosis and level of ASCVD risk on MACE, and hepatoprotection provided by statin drugs. In this quick slide show we offer topline study findings for these and other studies that were conversation topics in Boston, November 10-14, 2023.
In participants with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, the novel triple hormone receptor agonist retatrutide 8 mg and 12 mg resolved steatosis in >85% of subjects.
Investigators found that the protective effects of statin therapy against late stage liver disease increased with age older than 51 years in a study that investigated the interplay between statin us and age and sex over a decade.
Read more
Use of rifaximin significantly reduced mean number of OHE episodes as well as hospital contacts, including ED visits and admissions among individuals with advanced liver disease who received the drug as secondary prophylaxis.
More than 1 in 5 adults in a large primary care cohort screened by a novel cloud-based technology for the risk of advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD) were found to have advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis, requiring referral to a specialist for ongoing care.
Read more
The simple noninvasive tool may be an alternative to FIB-4, researchers said, and the new data may have implications for NAFLD surveillance. Based on AUC, the NAFLD Familial Risk score (0.94) outperformed the Fibrosis-4 index (0.70) (P=.02) in the study’s validation cohort.
Read more
Individuals with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) report understanding the severity of the diagnosis when they receive it but less than half say they fully understand the disease at that point. More education that is clear and from reliable sources is needed for patients with a NASH diagnosis and their caregivers throughout the duration of the disease.
Read more
The burden of coronary artery disease is similar between persons with hepatic steatosis at low and high ASCVD risk, but rate of MACE is higher in the low-risk population, according to findings of this study.
Read more
Over 15 years, decompensated cirrhosis and OHE notably rose among Medicare beneficiaries with cirrhosis, exceeding 40% and 20%, respectively, in 2020.
Read more
The predictive algorithm uses FibroScan-captured CAP and LSM data plus 5 clinical variables to identify advanced fibrosis in persons with MASLD.
Read more
