Trial reportHepatology (Baltimore, Md.)2022
Randomized placebo-controlled trial of losartan for pediatric NAFLD.
Trial report in Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy of drugs with different mechanistic pathways/targets in the treatment of pediatric NAFLD: evidence from a Bayesian network meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of pharmacotherapies on pediatric patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMC gastroenterology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Systematic review of exercise for the treatment of pediatric metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Randomized placebo-controlled trial of losartan for pediatric NAFLD.Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) · 2022Trial
- Paediatric metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD): a growing health concern in the age of childhood obesity.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Review
- Consensus Statement on Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in Children and Adolescents From the Joint TASL-TSPGHAN Expert Committee.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2025Article
- Mayo Clinic Proceedings and Steatohepatitis: From NASH Recognition to MASH Therapy.Mayo Clinic proceedings · 2025Article
- M6A methyltransferase METTL3 promotes glucose metabolism hub gene expression and induces metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of assembly and remodelling of the extracellular matrix.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2024Review
- Environmental toxicants modulate disease severity in pediatric metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition · 2024Article
- Converging Pathways between Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) and Diabetes in Children.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The combined pioglitazone and topiramate therapy for management of pediatric patients with severe MASLD.Saudi journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Saudi Gastroenterology Association · 2024Article
- The Renin-Angiotensin System in Liver Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Growth Hormone Treatment Normalized Liver Enzymes in an Adolescent with Obesity and Short Statute.Annals of pediatrics · 2024Article
- The bidirectional immune crosstalk in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.Cell metabolism · 2023Review
- Therapies for patients with coexisting heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.World journal of cardiology · 2023Review
- Effects of losartan in patients with NAFLD: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial.Open life sciences · 2023Review
- Use of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors in Patients With Liver Disease.Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors at 10 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsTo 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
resultsThe 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.
conclusionsLosartan did not significantly reduce ALT in children with NAFLD when compared with placebo.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.