Approximately 30% of the world’s population has fatty liver disease, which represents a major public health problem in any country, as this disease can lead to liver cirrhosis and is associated with cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is also a major health problem that affects approximately one-third of the world’s adult population and is frequently treated with a diuretic drug called spironolactone. There is experimental evidence suggesting that this drug can reduce fat accumulation in the liver and slow the progression of liver fibrosis.
A study has been published in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology examining the potential beneficial effect of spironolactone treatment on fatty liver disease. A total of 4110 participants with high blood pressure were included, of whom 822 were treated with spironolactone for six consecutive months. To diagnose possible fatty liver disease, patients underwent an annual abdominal ultrasound. The risk of developing fatty liver was found to be significantly reduced (18%) in patients with high blood pressure treated with spironolactone compared to those not taking the drug.
Usefulness of spironolactone in the treatment
It was also found that increasing the drug dose by 100 mg decreased the risk of developing fatty liver disease by 7.4%. Furthermore, when the cumulative dose of spironolactone was 635 mg, the risk of developing fatty liver disease decreased by 72%.
In summary, the study confirms that spironolactone treatment may be useful in patients with high blood pressure to reduce the risk of developing fatty liver disease and, if necessary, to treat this disease.
Dr. Carreño and the Foundation’s doctors agree with the potential usefulness of this drug in the treatment of fatty liver disease. However, we believe that further studies are needed, expanding the number of patients to include other ethnic groups (the study was only conducted with a Chinese population) and possibly even conducting a study demonstrating the impact of spironolactone treatment on liver biopsies from patients with fatty liver.
