Real-World Burden of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with an increase in healthcare resource use and poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We assessed the humanistic and economic burden of NASH, disease management, and patient journey.

We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data, collected from July through November 2017, from the Growth from Knowledge Disease Atlas Real-World Evidence program, reported by physicians in United States, France, and Germany. We extracted demographic and medical data from medical records. Some patients voluntarily completed a survey that provided information on disease history, treatment satisfaction, and patient-reported outcomes.

We analyzed data from 1216 patients (mean age, 54.9±12.3 years; 57.5% male; mean body mass index, 31.7±6.9); 64.6% had biopsy-confirmed NASH and comorbidities were recorded for 41.3%. Treatments included lifestyle modification (64.6%) or use of statins (25.0%), vitamin E (23.5%), or metformin (20.2%). Patients with biopsy-confirmed NASH reported more physician (4.5 vs 3.7) and outpatient visits (1.8 vs1.4) than patients with suspected NASH not confirmed by biopsy. Among the 299 patients who completed the survey, 47.8% reported various symptoms associated to their NASH. Symptomatic patients reported significantly lower HRQoL than patients without symptoms.

In an analysis of data from 3 countries, we found NASH to be associated with regular use of medical resources; patients with symptoms of NASH had reduced HRQoL. The burden of NASH appears to be underestimated. Studies are needed to determine the burden of NASH by fibrosis stage and disease severity.