A Class Effect Network Meta-analysis of Lipid Modulation in Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis for Dyslipidemia

Pharmaceutical therapy for NASH is associated with lipid modulation, but the consensus on drug treatment is limited and lacks comparative analysis of effectiveness. A network meta-analysis was conducted to compare NASH drug classes in lipid modulation.

Online databases were searched for randomized controlled trails (RCTs) evaluating NASH treatments in biopsy-proven NASH patients. Treatments were classified into four groups: (1) inflammation, (2) energy, (3) bile acids, and (4) fibrosis based on the mechanism of action. A Bayesian network analysis was conducted with outcome measured by mean difference (MD) with credible intervals (Crl) and surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA).

Forty-four RCTs were included in the analysis. Bile acid modulating treatments (MD: 0.05, Crl: 0.03-0.07) were the best treatment for improvement in high-density lipid (HDL) cholesterol, followed by treatments modulating energy (MD: 0.03, Crl: 0.02-0.04) and fibrosis (MD: 0.01, Crl: -0.12 to 0.14) compared with placebo. The top three treatments for reduction in triglycerides were treatments modulating energy (MD: -0.46, Crl: -0.49 to -0.43), bile acids (MD: -0.22, Crl: -0.35 to -0.09), and inflammation (MD: -0.08, Crl: -0.13 to -0.03) compared with placebo. SUCRA found treatment modulating fibrosis (MD: -1.27, Crl: -1.76 to -0.79) was the best treatment for reduction in low-density lipid (LDL) cholesterol followed by treatment modulating inflammation (MD: -1.03, Crl: -1.09 to -0.97) and energy (MD: -0.37, Crl: -0.39 to -0.34) compared with placebo, but LDL cholesterol was worsened by treatments modulating bile acids.

Network analysis comparing the class effects of dyslipidemia modulation in NASH found that treatment targets can include optimization of atherogenic dyslipidemia. Future studies are required to evaluate the cardiovascular outcomes.