SynthesisDiabetes, obesity & metabolism2026
Weight Loss as a Determinant of Histological Improvement in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in People With Obesity. A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomised Clinical Trials.
Synthesis in Diabetes, obesity & metabolism, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Positioning Incretin-Based and Next-Generation Obesity Management Medications: A Methodological Framework for a Series of Systematic Reviews and Network Meta-Analyses.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMetabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is closely linked to obesity and insulin resistance, and sustained weight loss is associated with histological improvement. Whether different obesity-management modalities exert weight-independent hepatic effects remains uncertain.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) of randomised controlled trials evaluating lifestyle intervention, obesity management medications, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty and metabolic and bariatric surgery in adults with BMI ≥ 27 kg/m
resultsSix RCTs (n = 1379) met inclusion criteria. Tirzepatide, semaglutide, sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass were superior to placebo or standard care for achieving MASH resolution. Because the network was weakly connected and largely placebo-anchored, indirect estimates were imprecise. Across study arms, greater TBWL% was associated with higher rates of MASH resolution and fibrosis improvement; however, these associations were strongly influenced by a small number of high-weight-loss surgical arms.
conclusionsWeight loss was consistently associated with histologic improvement across available RCTs. However, the limited evidence base, sparse network structure and ecological nature of the meta-regression preclude causal inference. These findings should be considered exploratory and hypothesis-generating, underscoring the need for adequately powered head-to-head trials.
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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 Socratic graph.