Written By: Dr. M Mukhyaprana Prabhu

Published On: 18 Aug, 2022 11:07 AM | Updated On: 23 Oct, 2024 5:01 PM

Statins and NAFLD

• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with metabolic factors, and insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and CVD are the most common cause of death.

• NAFLD-important health issue in India.

• Statins are used to treat atherogenic dyslipidemia to reduce ASCVD.

• Statins may improve liver enzymes and histology in NAFLD.

• Treatment with statins may have beneficial effects on NAFLD and its liverrelated complications, notably including cirrhosis, portal hypertension and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

• Indeed, further to their lipid-lowering activity, statins also exert several systemic pleiotropic mechanisms that collectively may occur in improving steatosis, sterile inflammation, fibrosis and tumorigenesis.

• Statins elevate liver enzymes leading to significant concern among physicians to prescribe statins in NAFLD are significantly underused in NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

• Evidence suggests that the risk for serious liver injury from statins is quite rare, and patients with NAFLD and dyslipidemia are not at increased risk for statin-induced hepatotoxicity.

• Hence, statins could be used by physicians to treat dyslipidemia in patients with NAFLD.

• Paucity of data to suggest the usage of statins as a treatment option for NAFLD. However, it continues to be a matter of debate, and treatment of NAFLD with statins cannot be recommended at present.