Monday, March 25, 2024

Aspirin cuts liver fat in trial

The good old Aspirin (in use for over 2,400 years) keeps on giving! I look forward to take my daily baby (low dose) Aspirin later today! 😊 Long live the liver!

"... In their Phase 2 trial, 80 adults with MASLD were randomized to receive daily low-dose aspirin or placebo for six months. At the end of the study, the average change in liver fat content was minus 6.6 percent with aspirin versus plus 3.6 percent with placebo, showing that low-dose aspirin reduced the average liver fat content by 10.2 percent compared with placebo. The aspirin was found to be safe and well-tolerated, and also improved various markers of liver health. ..."

From the key points and abstract:
"Key Points
Question
In patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), does 81 mg of aspirin daily reduce the quantity of hepatic fat at 6-month follow-up compared with placebo?
Findings
In this phase 2 randomized clinical trial of 80 individuals with MASLD, daily aspirin reduced the quantity of hepatic fat at 6-month follow-up compared with placebo (mean difference, −10.2%).
Meaning
In a preliminary randomized clinical trial of adults with MASLD, 6 months of daily low-dose aspirin significantly reduced liver fat content compared with placebo, but findings are preliminary and require confirmation in a larger population.
Abstract
Importance
Aspirin may reduce severity of metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and lower the incidence of end-stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma, in patients with MASLD. However, the effect of aspirin on MASLD is unknown.
Objective
To test whether low-dose aspirin reduces liver fat content, compared with placebo, in adults with MASLD.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This 6-month, phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted at a single hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Participants were aged 18 to 70 years with established MASLD without cirrhosis. Enrollment occurred between August 20, 2019, and July 19, 2022, with final follow-up on February 23, 2023.
Interventions
Participants were randomized (1:1) to receive either once-daily aspirin, 81 mg (n = 40) or identical placebo pills (n = 40) for 6 months.
Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary end point was mean absolute change in hepatic fat content, measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 6-month follow-up. The 4 key secondary outcomes included mean percentage change in hepatic fat content by MRS, the proportion achieving at least 30% reduction in hepatic fat, and the mean absolute and relative reductions in hepatic fat content, measured by magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF). Analyses adjusted for the baseline value of the corresponding outcome. Minimal clinically important differences for study outcomes were not prespecified.
Results
Among 80 randomized participants (mean age, 48 years; 44 [55%] women; mean hepatic fat content, 35% [indicating moderate steatosis]), 71 (89%) completed 6-month follow-up. The mean absolute change in hepatic fat content by MRS was −6.6% with aspirin vs 3.6% with placebo (difference, −10.2% [95% CI, −27.7% to −2.6%]; P = .009). Compared with placebo, aspirin treatment significantly reduced relative hepatic fat content (−8.8 vs 30.0 percentage points; mean difference, −38.8 percentage points [95% CI, −66.7 to −10.8]; P = .007), increased the proportion of patients with 30% or greater relative reduction in hepatic fat (42.5% vs 12.5%; mean difference, 30.0% [95% CI, 11.6% to 48.4%]; P = .006), reduced absolute hepatic fat content by MRI-PDFF (−2.7% vs 0.9%; mean difference, −3.7% [95% CI, −6.1% to −1.2%]; P = .004]), and reduced relative hepatic fat content by MRI-PDFF (−11.7 vs 15.7 percentage points; mean difference, −27.3 percentage points [95% CI, −45.2 to −9.4]; P = .003). Thirteen participants (32.5%) in each group experienced an adverse event, most commonly upper respiratory tract infections (10.0% in each group) or arthralgias (5.0% for aspirin vs 7.5% for placebo). One participant randomized to aspirin (2.5%) experienced drug-related heartburn.
Conclusions and Relevance
In this preliminary randomized clinical trial of patients with MASLD, 6 months of daily low-dose aspirin significantly reduced hepatic fat quantity compared with placebo. Further study in a larger sample size is necessary to confirm these findings."

Aspirin cuts liver fat in trial — Harvard Gazette 10 percent reduction seen in small study of disease that affects up to a third of U.S. adults




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