Screening and Intervention of MASLD in Children

NCT ID: NCT06905795

Last Updated: 2026-01-12

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

270 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-04-01

Study Completion Date

2027-05-31

Brief Summary

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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children and adolescents has recently been renamed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). It has become one of the leading chronic liver diseases in children. The prevalence of MASLD is 6.3% among the general pediatric population and 40.4% among overweight and obese children, with an increasing trend each year. MASLD increases the risk of various metabolic diseases and can eventually lead to liver fibrosis or hepatocellular carcinoma, contributing to the disease burden.

Previous work by our project team using machine learning methods has identified that fasting insulin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) have good predictive value in overweight and obese children, with a recommendation that children with a WHtR ≥ 0.48 should undergo further screening. However, external validation is still required to improve the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of this screening approach.

Till now, there are no approved drug treatments for paediatric MASLD, and lifestyle interventions (such as restricting energy intake and increasing physical activity) are the main therapeutic strategies. However, existing studies face limitations, such as small sample sizes, diverse intervention methods, lack of standardization, and short intervention durations, which hinder their clinical application. Therefore, it is essential to explore effective health lifestyle intervention models tailored to children.

This study aims to: First, optimizing the screening and treatment pathway, assess the cost-effectiveness and applicability of WHtR as a screening tool, and develop a tiered screening system suitable for Chinese children; Second, integrating school, clinic, family, and community resources to establish a multifacted lifestyle intervention model and evaluate its efficacy.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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MASLD - Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Children

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Comprehensive Intervention group

Students in the comprehensive intervention group will receive the interventions including regular screening, nutrition guidance and increase physical activity lasting one year.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Fibroscan test

Intervention Type DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Perform Fibroscan testing on the study subjects every six months.

Nutrition guidance

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Each family will be matched with a nutritionist, who will provide daily online dietary guidance for parents and students during the first 21 days, followed by weekly sessions thereafter.

Increase physical activity

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Increase physical activity time in and out of school by professional sports trainer.

Health education

Intervention Type OTHER

Knowledge of healthy lifestyle will be delivered in various forms such as health lectures, brochures, posters, etc.

Monitoring Intervention group

Students in the monitoring intervention group will receive regular sceeing every six months.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Fibroscan test

Intervention Type DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Perform Fibroscan testing on the study subjects every six months.

Control group

No Intervention.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Fibroscan test

Perform Fibroscan testing on the study subjects every six months.

Intervention Type DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Nutrition guidance

Each family will be matched with a nutritionist, who will provide daily online dietary guidance for parents and students during the first 21 days, followed by weekly sessions thereafter.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Increase physical activity

Increase physical activity time in and out of school by professional sports trainer.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Health education

Knowledge of healthy lifestyle will be delivered in various forms such as health lectures, brochures, posters, etc.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* parents agree and support their children's weight loss, and students and parents have informed consent;
* students in two to four grade aged 7 and 11 years old;
* students with WHtR ≥ 0.48.

Exclusion Criteria

* medical history of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, tuberculosis, asthma, virus hepatitis or nephritis;
* obesity caused by endocrine diseases or side effects of drugs;
* abnormal physical development like dwarfism or gigantism;
* physical deformity such as severe scoliosis, pectus carinatum, limp, obvious O-leg or X-leg;
* inability to participate in school sport activities;
* a loss in weight by vomiting or taking drugs during the past 3 months.
Minimum Eligible Age

7 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

11 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Peking University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Ningbo No. 1 Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Locations

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The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China

Site Status

Countries

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China

Other Identifiers

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2024S023

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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