A review of multidisciplinary care in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and cardiometabolic disease, with a focus on Canada

Abstract

Cardiometabolic disease (CMD) is associated with an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Most patients develop MASH in association with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Optimal disease management requires effective multidisciplinary collaboration between primary care physicians and specialists from different medical fields; however, awareness of the risks, association with CMD, diagnosis, complications, and management strategies of MASH is low among non-liver specialists. In Canada, variable access to diagnostic testing and, until recently, the lack of national MASH guidelines, are also barriers to effective disease management. Ongoing cross-disciplinary education and wide systemic changes are required to ensure timely patient identification and the establishment of holistic patient care pathways that can begin to address MASH and associated CMD.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; fatty liver disease; liver; obesity care; primary care.