Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplements for Sarcopenia in Liver Cirrhosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

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 inclu

SUBMITTER: Abuelazm M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11742309 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature