Judicious Use of Lipid Lowering Agents in the Management of NAFLD
by
Umair Iqbal 1, Brandon J. Perumpail 2, Nimy John 3, Sandy Sallam 3, Neha D. Shah 3, Waiyee Kwong 3, George Cholankeril 3, Donghee Kim 3
and Aijaz Ahmed 3,*
Umair Iqbal 1, Brandon J. Perumpail 2, Nimy John 3, Sandy Sallam 3, Neha D. Shah 3, Waiyee Kwong 3, George Cholankeril 3, Donghee Kim 3 and Aijaz Ahmed 3,*
1
Department of Medicine, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA 17821, USA
2
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
3
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94304, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diseases 2018, 6(4), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases6040087
Received: 9 August 2018 / Revised: 15 September 2018 / Accepted: 16 September 2018 / Published: 24 September 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Lipid Lowering Therapies for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases: Lessons from the Past and Future Challenges)
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the Western world. NAFLD encompasses a spectrum of histological features, including steatosis, steatohepatitis with balloon degeneration, and hepatic fibrosis leading to cirrhosis. In patients with advanced liver damage, NAFLD is associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia are components of metabolic syndrome and are commonly associated with NAFLD. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in patients with NAFLD. Therefore, it is important to pre-emptively identify and proactively treat conditions like hyperlipidemia in an effort to favorably modify the risk factors associated with cardiovascular events in patients with NAFLD. The management of hyperlipidemia has been shown to reduce cardiovascular mortality and improve histological damage/biochemical abnormalities associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a subset of NAFLD with advance liver damage. There are no formal guidelines available regarding the use of anti-hyperlipidemic drugs, as prospective data are lacking. The focus of this article is to discuss the utility of lipid-lowering drugs in patients with NAFLD.
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Keywords:
NAFLD; NASH; hepatic fibrosis; hyperlipidemia; statins
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MDPI and ACS Style
Iqbal, U.; Perumpail, B.J.; John, N.; Sallam, S.; Shah, N.D.; Kwong, W.; Cholankeril, G.; Kim, D.; Ahmed, A. Judicious Use of Lipid Lowering Agents in the Management of NAFLD. Diseases 2018, 6, 87.
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