Prevalence and Factors Associated With Statin Use Among Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the TARGET-NASH Study.

Challenge

Statins are indicated for cardiovascular risk reduction in most NAFLD patients due to their high metabolic comorbidity burden, yet concern about hepatotoxicity had led to systematic underprescription—particularly in patients with cirrhosis—without real-world data quantifying the scope of the gap.

Solution

The TARGET-NASH registry was analyzed to characterize statin prescribing patterns across the full NAFLD spectrum, identifying predictors of statin use and non-use in a large, real-world US population including patients typically excluded from clinical trials.

Impact

Quantifying the magnitude of statin underprescription in NAFLD—especially in cirrhosis—provides actionable evidence for guideline revision and positions the TARGET-NASH infrastructure as a source of real-world treatment pattern data for sponsors developing CV risk mitigation strategies in liver disease.