A Global Survey of Physicians Knowledge About Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background & Aims Despite rapidly increasing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevalence, providers’ knowledge may be limited. We assessed NAFLD knowledge and associated factors among physicians of different specialties globally. Methods NAFLD knowledge surveys containing 54 and 59 questions covering 3 domains (epidemiology/pathogenesis, diagnostics, and treatment) were completed electronically by hepatologists, gastroenterologists (GEs), endocrinologists (ENDOs), and primary care physicians (PCPs) from 40 countries comprising 5 Global Burden of Disease super-regions. Over 24 months, 2202 surveys were completed (488 hepatologists, 758 GEs, 148 ENDOs, and 808 PCPs; 50% high-income Global Burden of Disease super-region, 27% from North Africa and Middle East, 12% Southeast Asia, and 5% South Asian and Latin America). Results Hepatologists saw the greatest number of NAFLD patients annually: median 150 (interquartile range, 60–300) vs 100 (interquartile range, 35–200) for GEs, 100 (interquartile range, 30–200) for ENDOs, and 10 (interquartile range, 4–50) for PCPs (all P < .0001). The primary sources of NAFLD knowledge acquisition for hepatologists were international conferences (33% vs 8%–26%) and practice guidelines for others (39%–44%). The Internet was the second most common source of NAFLD knowledge for PCPs (28%). NAFLD knowledge scores were higher for hepatologists than GEs: epidemiology, 62% vs 53%; diagnostics, 80% vs 73%; and treatment, 61% vs 58% (P < .0001), and ENDOs scores were higher than PCPs: epidemiology, 70% vs 60%; diagnostics, 71% vs 64%; and treatment, 79% vs 68% (P < .0001). Being a hepatologist or ENDO was associated with higher knowledge scores than a GE or PCP, respectively (P < .05). Higher NAFLD knowledge scores were associated independently with a greater number of NAFLD patients seen (P < .05). Conclusions Despite the growing burden of NAFLD, a significant knowledge gap remains for the identification, diagnosis, and management of NAFLD

Severe impairment of patient-reported outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection seen in real-world practices across the world: Data from the global liver registry

Cure of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) can lead to improvement of health-related quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes (PROs). While extensive PRO data for CHC patients who were enrolled in clinical trials are available, similar data for patients seen in real-world practices are scarce. Our aim was to assess PROs of CHC patients enrolled from real-world practices from different regions and to compare them with those enrolled in clinical trials. CHC patients seen in clinical practices and not receiving treatment were enrolled in the Global Liver Registry (GLR). Clinical and PRO (FACIT-F, CLDQ-HCV, WPAI) data were collected and compared with the baseline data from CHC patients enrolled in clinical trials. N = 12,171 CHC patients were included (GLR n = 3146, clinical trial subjects n = 9025). Patients were from 30 countries from 6 out of 7 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) super-regions. Compared with clinical trial enrollees, patients from GLR were less commonly enrolled from High-Income GBD super-region, older, more commonly female, less employed, had more type 2 diabetes, anxiety and clinically overt fatigue but less cirrhosis (all p  0.05). In conclusion, hepatitis C patients seen in the real-world practices have PRO impairment driven by fatigue and psychiatric comorbidities.Peer reviewe

Treatment-specific risk of subsequent malignant neoplasms in five-year survivors of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

BACKGROUND: The introduction of rituximab significantly improved the prognosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), emphasizing the importance of evaluating the long-term consequences of exposure to radiotherapy, alkylating agents and anthracycline-containing (immuno)chemotherapy among DLBCL survivors. METHODS: Long-term risk of subsequent malignant neoplasms (SMNs) was examined in a multicenter cohort comprising 2373 5-year DLBCL survivors treated at ages 15-61 years in 1989-2012. Observed SMN numbers were compared with expected cancer incidence to estimate standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and absolute excess risks (AERs/10 000 person-years). Treatment-specific risks were assessed using multivariable Cox regression. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 13.8 years, 321 survivors developed one or more SMNs (SIR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.8, AER 51.8). SIRs remained increased for at least 20 years after first-line treatment (SIR ≥20-year follow-up 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.2, AER 81.8) and were highest among patients ≤40 years at first DLBCL treatment (SIR 2.7, 95% CI 2.0-3.5). Lung (SIR 2.0, 95% CI 1.5-2.7, AER 13.4) and gastrointestinal cancers (SIR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2-2.0, AER 11.8) accounted for the largest excess risks. Treatment with >4500 mg/m 2 cyclophosphamide/>300 mg/m 2 doxorubicin versus ≤2250 mg/m 2/≤150 mg/m 2, respectively, was associated with increased solid SMN risk (hazard ratio 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.2). Survivors who received rituximab had a lower risk of subdiaphragmatic solid SMNs (hazard ratio 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-1.0) compared with survivors who did not receive rituximab. CONCLUSION: Five-year DLBCL survivors have an increased risk of SMNs. Risks were higher for survivors ≤40 years at first treatment and survivors treated with >4500 mg/m 2 cyclophosphamide/>300 mg/m 2 doxorubicin, and may be lower for survivors treated in the rituximab era, emphasizing the need for studies with longer follow-up for rituximab-treated patients

Clinical and Patient-Reported Outcomes From Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Across the World: Data From the Global Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)/ Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) Registry

[Background & Aims] Globally, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common cause of chronic liver disease. We assessed the clinical presentation and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among NAFLD patients from different countries.[Methods] Clinical, laboratory, and PRO data (Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire–nonalcoholic steatohepatitis [NASH], Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Fatigue, and the Work Productivity and Activity Index) were collected from NAFLD patients seen in real-world practices and enrolled in the Global NAFLD/NASH Registry encompassing 18 countries in 6 global burden of disease super-regions.[Results] Across the global burden of disease super-regions, NAFLD patients (n = 5691) were oldest in Latin America and Eastern Europe and youngest in South Asia. Most men were enrolled at the Southeast and South Asia sites. Latin America and South Asia had the highest employment rates (>60%). Rates of cirrhosis varied (12%–21%), and were highest in North Africa/Middle East and Eastern Europe. Rates of metabolic syndrome components varied: 20% to 25% in South Asia and 60% to 80% in Eastern Europe. Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire–NASH and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Fatigue PRO scores were lower in NAFLD patients than general population norms (all P < .001). Across the super-regions, the lowest PRO scores were seen in Eastern Europe and North Africa/Middle East. In multivariate analysis adjusted for enrollment region, independent predictors of lower PRO scores included younger age, women, and nonhepatic comorbidities including fatigue (P < .01). Patients whose fatigue scores improved over time experienced a substantial PRO improvement. Nearly 8% of Global NAFLD/NASH Registry patients had a lean body mass index, with fewer metabolic syndrome components, fewer comorbidities, less cirrhosis, and significantly better PRO scores (P < .01).[Conclusions] NAFLD patients seen in real-world practices in different countries experience a high comorbidity burden and impaired quality of life. Future research using global data will enable more precise management and treatment strategies for these patients.Peer reviewe

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol—which is a marker of cardiovascular risk—changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million–4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world

Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income&nbsp;countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was &lt;1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of&nbsp;countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified

Global variation in diabetes diagnosis and prevalence based on fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but these measurements can identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and detected as having diabetes in survey screening, had elevated FPG, HbA1c or both. We developed prediction equations for estimating the probability that a person without previously diagnosed diabetes, and at a specific level of FPG, had elevated HbA1c, and vice versa. The age-standardized proportion of diabetes that was previously undiagnosed and detected in survey screening ranged from 30% in the high-income western region to 66% in south Asia. Among those with screen-detected diabetes with either test, the age-standardized proportion who had elevated levels of both FPG and HbA1c was 29-39% across regions; the remainder had discordant elevation of FPG or HbA1c. In most low- and middle-income regions, isolated elevated HbA1c was more common than isolated elevated FPG. In these regions, the use of FPG alone may delay diabetes diagnosis and underestimate diabetes prevalence. Our prediction equations help allocate finite resources for measuring HbA1c to reduce the global shortfall in diabetes diagnosis and surveillance

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks