Browsing by Author "Hertel, Paula"

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    Development of Fibro-PeN, a clinical prediction model for moderate-to-severe fibrosis in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2024) Wang, Andrew; Blackford, Amanda L.; Behling, Cynthia; Wilson, Laura A.; Newton, Kimberly P.; Xanthakos, Stavra A.; Fishbein, Mark H.; Vos, Miriam B.; Mouzaki, Marialena; Molleston, Jean P.; Jain, Ajay K.; Hertel, Paula; Harlow Adams, Kathryn; Schwimmer, Jeffrey B.; NASH CRN; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background and aims: Liver fibrosis is common in children with NAFLD and is an important determinant of outcomes. High-performing noninvasive models to assess fibrosis in children are needed. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance of existing pediatric and adult fibrosis prediction models and to develop a clinical prediction rule for identifying moderate-to-severe fibrosis in children with NAFLD. Approach and results: We enrolled children with biopsy-proven NAFLD in the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network within 90 days of liver biopsy. We staged liver fibrosis in consensus using the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network scoring system. We evaluated existing pediatric and adult models for fibrosis and developed a new pediatric model using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator with linear and spline terms for discriminating moderate-to-severe fibrosis from none or mild fibrosis. The model was internally validated with 10-fold cross-validation. We evaluated 1055 children with NAFLD, of whom 26% had moderate-to-severe fibrosis. Existing models performed poorly in classifying fibrosis in children, with area under the receiver operator curves (AUC) ranging from 0.57 to 0.64. In contrast, our new model, fibrosis in pediatric NAFLD was derived from fourteen common clinical variables and had an AUC of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.77-0.81) with 72% sensitivity and 76% specificity for identifying moderate-to-severe fibrosis. Conclusion: Existing fibrosis prediction models have limited clinical utility in children with NAFLD. Fibrosis in pediatric NAFLD offers improved performance characteristics for risk stratification by identifying moderate-to-severe fibrosis in children with NAFLD.
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    Nutrition assessment and MASH severity in children using the Healthy Eating Index
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2023-12-07) Jain, Ajay Kumar; Buchannan, Paula; Yates, Katherine P.; Belt, Patricia; Schwimmer, Jeffrey B.; Rosenthal, Philip; Murray, Karen F.; Molleston, Jean P.; Scheimann, Ann; Xanthakos, Stavra A.; Behling, Cynthia A.; Hertel, Paula; Nilson, Jamie; Neuschwander-Tetri, Brent A.; Tonascia, James; Vos, Miriam B.; Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN); Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Pediatric metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a global health problem, with lifestyle modification as its major therapeutic strategy. Rigorous characterization of dietary content on MAFLD in children is lacking. We hypothesized an objectively measured healthier diet would positively modulate MAFLD. Methods: Diet was assessed using the Nutrition Data System for Research in children enrolled from 10 tertiary clinical centers to determine the Healthy Eating Index (HEI, 0-100) and individual food components. Results: In all, 119 children were included (13.3 ± 2.7 y), 80 (67%) male, 67 (18%) White, and 90 (76%) Hispanic, with an average body mass index Z-score of 2.2 ± 0.5. Diet was classified as low HEI < 47.94 (n = 39), mid HEI ≥ 47.94 and < 58.89 (n = 41), or high HEI ≥ 58.89 (n=39). Children with high HEI (healthier diet) had lower body weight (p = 0.005) and more favorable lipids. Mean serum triglycerides for low, mid, and high HEI were 163, 148, and 120 mg/dL, respectively; p = 0.04 mid versus high, p = 0.01 low versus high. Mean HDL was 38, 41 and 43 mg/dL; p = 0.02 low vs high. Less severe steatosis was noted with added sugar ≤ 10% of calories (p = 0.03). Higher lobular inflammation is associated with a higher percentage of calories from fat (OR (95% CI) = 0.95 (0.91-1.00), p = 0.04). Conclusions: In children with MAFLD, high HEI is associated with lower body weight and more favorable lipids, while added sugar and fat intake has individual histologic features. Differential consumption of major dietary components may modify both metabolic risk factors and histologic liver injury, highlighting the importance of objective diet assessments in children with MAFLD.
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    Randomized placebo-controlled trial of losartan for pediatric NAFLD
    (Wiley, 2022) Vos, Miriam B.; Van Natta, Mark L.; Blondet, Niviann M.; Dasarathy, Srinivasan; Fishbein, Mark; Hertel, Paula; Jain, Ajay K.; Karpen, Saul J.; Lavine, Joel E.; Mohammad, Saeed; Miriel, Laura A.; Molleston, Jean P.; Mouzaki, Marialena; Sanyal, Arun; Sharkey, Emily P.; Schwimmer, Jeffrey B.; Tonascia, James; Wilson, Laura A.; Xanthakos, Stavra A.; NASH Clinical Research Network; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background and aims: To date, no pharmacotherapy exists for pediatric NAFLD. Losartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker, has been proposed as a treatment due to its antifibrotic effects. Approach and results: The Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network conducted a multicenter, double-masked, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial in children with histologically confirmed NAFLD at 10 sites (September 2018 to April 2020). Inclusion criteria were age 8-17 years, histologic NAFLD activity score ≥ 3, and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ≥ 50 U/l. Children received 100 mg of losartan or placebo orally once daily for 24 weeks. The primary outcome was change in ALT levels from baseline to 24 weeks, and the preset sample size was n = 110. Treatment effects were assessed using linear regression of change in treatment group adjusted for baseline value. Eighty-three participants (81% male, 80% Hispanic) were randomized to losartan (n = 43) or placebo (n = 40). During an enrollment pause, necessitated by the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, an unplanned interim analysis showed low probability (7%) of significant group difference. The Data and Safety Monitoring Board recommended early study termination. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. The 24-week change in ALT did not differ significantly between losartan versus placebo groups (adjusted mean difference: 1.1 U/l; 95% CI = -30.6, 32.7; p = 0.95), although alkaline phosphatase decreased significantly in the losartan group (adjusted mean difference: -23.4 U/l; 95% CI = -41.5, -5.3; p = 0.01). Systolic blood pressure decreased in the losartan group but increased in placebo (adjusted mean difference: -7.5 mm Hg; 95% CI = -12.2, -2.8; p = 0.002). Compliance by pill counts and numbers and types of adverse events did not differ by group. Conclusions: Losartan did not significantly reduce ALT in children with NAFLD when compared with placebo.
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    Validation of the accuracy of the FAST™ score for detecting patients with at-risk nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in a North American cohort and comparison to other non-invasive algorithms
    (PLOS, 2022) Woreta, Tinsay A.; Van Natta, Mark L.; Lazo, Mariana; Krishnan, Arunkumar; Neuschwander-Tetri, Brent A.; Loomba, Rohit; Diehl, Anna Mae; Abdelmalek, Manal F.; Chalasani, Naga; Gawrieh, Samer; Dasarathy, Srinivasan; Vuppalanchi, Raj; Siddiqui, Mohammad S.; Kowdley, Kris V.; McCullough, Arthur; Terrault, Norah A.; Behling, Cynthia; Kleiner, David E.; Fishbein, Mark; Hertel, Paula; Wilson, Laura A.; Mitchell, Emily P.; Miriel, Laura A.; Clark, Jeanne M.; Tonascia, James; Sanyal, Arun J.; NASH Clinical Research Network; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background and aims: Management of patients with NASH who are at elevated risk of progressing to complications of cirrhosis (at-risk NASH) would be enhanced by an accurate, noninvasive diagnostic test. The new FAST™ score, a combination of FibroScan® parameters liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), has shown good diagnostic accuracy for at-risk NASH (area-under-the-Receiver-Operating-Characteristic [AUROC] = 0.80) in European cohorts. We aimed to validate the FAST™ score in a North American cohort and show how its diagnostic accuracy might vary by patient mix. We also compared the diagnostic performance of FAST™ to other non-invasive algorithms for the diagnosis of at-risk NASH. Methods: We studied adults with biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) from the multicenter NASH Clinical Research Network (CRN) Adult Database 2 (DB2) cohort study. At-risk-NASH was histologically defined as definite NASH with a NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) ≥ 4 with at least 1 point in each category and a fibrosis stage ≥ 2. We used the Echosens® formula for FAST™ from LSM (kPa), CAP (dB/m), and AST (U/L), and the FAST™-based Rule-Out (FAST™ ≤ 0.35, sensitivity = 90%) and Rule-In (FAST™ ≥ 0.67, specificity = 90%) zones. We determined the following diagnostic performance measures: AUROC, sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV); these were calculated for the total sample and by subgroups of patients and by FibroScan® exam features. We also compared the at-risk NASH diagnostic performance of FAST™ to other non-invasive algorithms: NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, and AST to platelet ratio index (APRI). Results: The NASH CRN population of 585 patients was 62% female, 79% white, 14% Hispanic, and 73% obese; the mean age was 51 years. The mean (SD) AST and ALT were 50 (37) U/L and 66 (45) U/L, respectively. 214 (37%) had at-risk NASH. The AUROC of FAST™ for at-risk NASH in the NASH CRN study population was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.84. Using FAST™-based cut-offs, 35% of patients were ruled-out with corresponding NPV = 0.90 and 27% of patients were ruled-in with corresponding PPV = 0.69. The diagnostic accuracy of FAST™ was higher in non-whites vs. whites (AUROC: 0.91 vs 0.78; p = 0.001), and in patients with a normal BMI vs. BMI > 35 kg/m2 (AUROC: 0.94 vs 0.78, p = 0.008). No differences were observed by other patient characteristics or FibroScan® exam features. The FAST™ score had higher diagnostic accuracy than other non-invasive algorithms for the diagnosis of at-risk NASH (AUROC for NFS, FIB-4, and APRI 0.67, 0.73, 0.74, respectively). Conclusion: We validated the FAST™ score for the diagnosis of at-risk NASH in a large, multi-racial population in North America, with a prevalence of at-risk NASH of 37%. Diagnostic performance varies by subgroups of NASH patients defined by race and obesity. FAST™ performed better than other non-invasive algorithms for the diagnosis of at-risk NASH.