Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26407715›Full record

SynthesisDiabetologia2016

Circulating leptin in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Stergios A Polyzos, Konstantinos N Aronis, Jannis Kountouras, Dimitrios D Raptis, Maria F Vasiloglou, Christos S Mantzoros

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Diabetologia, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 124 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
124citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
12.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

124 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 249 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Effect of Probiotics Therapy on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.Computational and mathematical methods in medicine · 2022
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Comprehensive lifestyle interventionWorld journal of gastroenterology · 2019
    Trial
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Research Progress on Leptin in Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Fatty Liver Disease.Journal of clinical and translational hepatology · 2025
    Review
  10. World journal of hepatology · 2025
    Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Liver diseases: epidemiology, causes, trends and predictions.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Advances in the Use of Metformin for Liver Disease.Current medicinal chemistry · 2025
    Review
  19. Article
  20. Review

64 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Stergios A PolyzosSecond Medical Clinic, Department of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokration Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece. stergios@endo.gr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9232-4042
Konstantinos N AronisDivision of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Jannis KountourasSecond Medical Clinic, Department of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokration Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Dimitrios D RaptisSecond Medical Clinic, Department of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokration Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Maria F VasiloglouSecond Medical Clinic, Department of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Ippokration Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Christos S MantzorosDivision of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki · GRBoston University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aims/hypothesisClinical data regarding circulating leptin levels in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are conflicting. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare leptin levels between the following groups: patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD vs controls; simple steatosis (SS) patients vs controls; non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients vs controls and NASH patients vs SS patients.

methodsWe performed a systematic search in PubMed, Scopus and the Cochrane Library. We analysed 33 studies, published between 1999 and 2014, including 2,612 individuals (775 controls and 1,837 NAFLD patients).

resultsHigher circulating leptin levels were observed in NAFLD patients vs controls (standardised mean difference [SMD] 0.640; 95% CI 0.422, 0.858), SS patients vs controls (SMD 0.358; 95% CI 0.043, 0.673), NASH patients vs controls (SMD 0.617; 95% CI 0.403, 0.832) and NASH patients vs SS patients (SMD 0.209; 95% CI 0.023, 0.395). These results remained essentially unchanged after excluding studies involving paediatric or adolescent populations and/or individuals undergoing bariatric surgery. There was moderate-to-severe heterogeneity among studies in all comparisons, but no significant publication bias was detected. Meta-regression analysis demonstrated that BMI was inversely associated with leptin SMD and accounted for 26.5% (p = 0.014) and 32.7% (p = 0.021) of the between-study variance in the comparison between NASH patients and controls and NAFLD patients and controls, respectively. However, when bariatric studies were excluded, BMI did not significantly explain the between-study variance. CONCLUSIONS/

interpretationCirculating leptin levels were higher in patients with NAFLD than in controls. Higher levels of circulating leptin were associated with increased severity of NAFLD, and the association remained significant after the exclusion of studies involving paediatric or adolescent populations and morbidly obese individuals subjected to bariatric surgery.

Indexed as

BiomarkersBiopsyCase-Control StudiesCross-Sectional StudiesHumansLeptinNon-alcoholic Fatty Liver DiseaseRegression AnalysisSensitivity and SpecificityTreatment OutcomeBiomarkersLeptinAdipokineAdipose tissueInsulin resistanceLeptinMeta-analysisMetabolic syndromeNon-alcoholic fatty liver diseaseNon-alcoholic steatohepatitisSteatosisSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID26407715
OpenAlexW2104569290

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.