Two-step care pathways for advanced MASLD in primary and hospital care: A multicenter study

Early diagnosis of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) fibrosis may prevent liver-related morbidity and mortality. We investigated the effectiveness of multiple 2-step approaches for detecting at-risk advanced MASLD fibrosis, defined as a hierarchical clinical score comprising liver histology and VCTE depending on availability, in primary and hospital outpatient care.

Patients at risk for MASLD were recruited from general practices and regional and tertiary internal medicine clinics, after excluding other liver diseases. Simultaneous measurement of non-invasive tests (NITs), including fibrosis-4 score (FIB4), metabolic dysfunction-associated fibrosis-5 score (MAF5), NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test, procollagen type III N-terminal propeptide (PRO-C3), procollagen type VI N-terminal propeptide (PRO-C6), and vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), allowed testing of 2-step referral pathways. Referral patterns were compared with regular care between 2016 and 2024 using a predefined reference standard.

Among 595 participants, 9.4% were at-risk of advanced MASLD fibrosis. A care pathway consisting of FIB4 (≥1.30) followed by VCTE yielded the greatest improvement, increasing the correct referral rate 5.0-fold (95% CI: 2.4-10.1) compared with regular care. However, care pathways incorporating MAF5 (≥1.0) or NFS (≥-1.455) followed by VCTE demonstrated markedly higher sensitivity at comparable increases in detection (both >4.5-fold). Among other second-step NITs, PRO-C3 outperformed ELF, PRO-C6, and ADAPT, resulting in a 2.2-fold (95% CI: 1.1-4.4) increase in correct referrals when used after FIB4 (≥1.30).

Two-step care pathways substantially improve the detection of at-risk advanced MASLD fibrosis across care settings. Pathways using FIB4, MAF5, or NFS followed by VCTE offer the best performance overall, while PRO-C3 is the most effective alternative blood-based second-step test.