ReviewJournal of clinical and experimental hepatology
Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplements for Sarcopenia in Liver Cirrhosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Review in Journal of clinical and experimental hepatology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Strength training intervention with creatine/whey protein supplementation vs placebo on frailty in older adults with cirrhosis (STRIVE): A Randomized Controlled Trial.Research square · 2026Article
- Nutritional Management in Liver Cirrhosis: A Combined Systematic Review and Observational Study.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Efficacy of different nutrition interventions on sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMC nutrition · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Sarcopenia, a key aspect of malnutrition in liver cirrhosis (LC), affects 30-70% of LC patients. Given the inconsistent results from RCTs on branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) for treating sarcopenia in LC, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of BCAAs for sarcopenia management in LC patients. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing evidence from RCTs obtained from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to April 2024. We used the fixed-effects model to report dichotomous outcomes using risk ratio (RR) and continuous outcomes using mean difference (MD), with a 95% confidence interval (CI). PROSPERO ID: CRD42024542761. Results: Five RCTs with 434 patients were included. BCAAs were significantly associated with decreased liver frailty index change (MD: -0.14 with 95% CI [-0.28, -0.01], Conclusion: BCAA supplementation in cirrhotic patients with sarcopenia reduced the liver frailty index, increased BMI and QoL, but did not affect handgrip strength, skeletal muscle index, gait speed, or MELD score. Outcome heterogeneity and study bias were noted, highlighting the need for further RCTs to confirm these results.
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Registered trials
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