Du JY, Shu L, Zhou YT, Zhang L. Branched-chain amino acids supplementation has beneficial effects on the progression of liver cirrhosis: A meta-analysis. World J Clin Cases 2022; 10(30): 10984-10996 [PMID: 36338230 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i30.10984]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li Zhang, MD, Professor, Department of Geriatrics, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 32 West Section 2, Yihuan Road, Chengdu 610072, Sichuan Province, China. zhangligbyl@med.uestc.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Meta-Analysis
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Oct 26, 2022; 10(30): 10984-10996 Published online Oct 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i30.10984
Branched-chain amino acids supplementation has beneficial effects on the progression of liver cirrhosis: A meta-analysis
Jia-Yu Du, Liu Shu, Yu-Tian Zhou, Li Zhang
Jia-Yu Du, School of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Liu Shu, Department of Neuroscience, College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Yu-Tian Zhou, Department of Geriatrics, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Li Zhang, Department of Geriatrics, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu 610072, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Du JY contributed to conception and design; Zhang L contributed to administrative support; Du JY, Liu S, and Zhou YT contributed to data collection, assembly, analysis and interpretation; all authors contributed to manuscript writing and final approval of the manuscript.
Supported bythe Key Research and Development Projects of Sichuan Science and Technology Department, No. 22ZDYF1691, No. 2018FZ0062, and No. 2020YFS0410.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li Zhang, MD, Professor, Department of Geriatrics, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 32 West Section 2, Yihuan Road, Chengdu 610072, Sichuan Province, China. zhangligbyl@med.uestc.edu.cn
Received: July 18, 2022 Peer-review started: July 18, 2022 First decision: August 6, 2022 Revised: August 19, 2022 Accepted: September 19, 2022 Article in press: September 19, 2022 Published online: October 26, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Liver cirrhosis (LC) mainly includes increasing dietary intake, food intake time and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Despite the recommendation of BCAAs in some guidelines, adverse effects have been reported in studies so the efficacy and safety of BCAAs remain controversial.
Research motivation
We performed a meta-analysis to determine the effects of BCAAs in patients with LC.
Research objectives
To determine the effects of BCAAs in patients with LC.
Research methods
Nine studies were finally included. The primary outcome was complications of LC. The secondary outcomes were nutritional status and liver function. This meta-analysis used the Review Manager, version 5 statistical package (Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, England) for analysis.
Research results
BCAAs reduced the rate of complications in LC patients (Risk ratio: 0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.56-0.88, P = 0.002) and improved patients’ albumin levels [std mean difference SMD: 0.26, 95%CI: 0.12-0.40, P = 0.0002]. Meanwhile, BCAAs significantly ameliorated the levels of alanine transaminase (SMD: -2.03, 95%CI: -2.52 to -1.53, P < 0.00001) and aspartate aminotransferase (SMD: -1.8, 95%CI: -2.14 to -1.46, P < 0.00001). Meanwhile, glucose in the LC was significantly increased in BCAA-treated patients (MD: 13.04, 95%CI: 6.81-19.89, P = 0.0002).
Research conclusions
Branched-chain amino acids could reduce the incidence of complications in patients with liver cirrhosis and ameliorate nutritional status.
Research perspectives
Our results provide a reference for the nutritional treatment of patients with LC which is helpful for clinical and nursing applications. We hope that there will be better nutritional support treatment plans for LC patients in the future.
