Circulating leptin in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
Aims/hypothesis Clinical 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.Methods We 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).Results Higher 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/interpretation Circulating 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.
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Elevated leptin levels are associated with development, progression, and prognostication of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
“Elevated levels of leptin were associated with development, progression and prognostication of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) [41].”
From Adipokines, Myokines, and Hepatokines: Crosstalk and Metabolic Repercussions (2021) · cites this paper as [41]
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References 54 · Cited by 248
- Authors
- Polyzos, S. A., Aronis, K. N., Kountouras, J., Raptis, D. D., Vasiloglou, M. F., & Mantzoros, C. S.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Diabetologia
- Published
- 2015-09-26
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 30-43
- ISSN
- 0012-186X (ISSN-L)
- 1432-0428
- OpenAlex
- W2104569290
- Cited by
- 248
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 2.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Diabetologia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Amgen
- Cleveland Clinic
- University of Patras
- Firat Üniversitesi
- Università degli Studi di Palermo
- Universitetet i Oslo
- School of Medicine, Indiana University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Keywords
- leptin, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, simple steatosis, body mass index, disease severity, adipokines
- MeSH terms
- Biopsy, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, Regression Analysis, Sensitivity and Specificity, Biomarkers, Case-Control Studies, Treatment Outcome, Leptin, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
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