Branched-chain amino acids supplementation has beneficial effects on the progression of liver cirrhosis: A meta-analysis

Table 1 Characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis, n = 1080

Trail	Country	Group	n	Treatment time	Child grade	Mean age	M/F	Study type
Etsushi Kawamura, 2009	Japan	BCAA	27	12 mo	A	62.70 ± 10.08	13/14	RCT
		Control	23			62.30 ± 7.30	12/11
Muto Y, 2005	Japan	BCAA	314	> 5 mo	A/B/C	62 ± 8	147/167	RCT
		Control	308			61 ± 9	147/161
Yutaka Nakaya, 2007	Japan	BCAA	19	3 mo	A/B	67 ± 9	13/6	RCT
		Control	19			67 ± 8	7/12
Les, 2011	Spain	BCAA	58	56 wk	A/B	64.1 ± 10.4	45/13	RCT
		Control	58			62.5 ± 10.4	43/15
Tangkijvanich P, 2000	Thailand	BCAA	15	4 wk	-	53.07 ± 10.58	10/5	RCT
		Control	15			53.20 ± 12.74	12/3
Marchesini G, 1990	Italy	BCAA	29	12 mo	-	60	24/6	RCT
		Control	32			60	27/7
Michel H, 1985	France	BCAA	36	5 d	A/B/C	60.5 ± 11.5	25/11	RCT
		Control	34			59.3 ± 12.8	24/10
Ruiz-Margain, A, 2017	Mexico	BCAA,	37	6 mo	A/B	54.9 ± 10.3	6/31	RCT
		Control	35			47.8 ± 14.6	8/27
Masahiro Kobayashi, 2008	Japan	BCAA	19	168 wk	A/B	62.9 ± 5.7	19/0	RCT
		Control	20			59.5 ± 7.2	20/0

BCAA: Branched-chain amino acid; N: Number; M: Male; F: Female; RCT: Randomized controlled trial.

Table 2 Patient baseline characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis, n = 1080

Trail	Group	Albumin in g/dL	Etiology as viral hepatitis/alcoholic/others	Ascites as absent/presence	Hepatic encephalopathy as absent/presence	Esophagogastric varices as absence/presence
Etsushi Kawamura, 2009	BCAA	3.70 ± 0.38	25/2/0	27/0	27/0	27/0
	Control	3.81 ± 0.32	21/2/0	23/0	23/0	23/0
Muto, Y, 2005	BCAA	3.3 ± 0.3	266/20/28	240/74	287/27	144/170
	Control	3.3 ± 0.3	237/32/39	241/66	295/12	121/187
Yutaka Nakaya, 2007	BCAA	3.0 ± 0.4	-	16/3	-	-
	Control	3.0 ± 0.3	-	15/4	-	-
Les, 2011	BCAA	2.9 ± 0.6	24/17/17	-	-	-
	Control	2.9 ± 0.5	18/25/15	-	-	-
Tangkijvanich P, 2000	BCAA	3.81 ± 0.86	6/6/2	-	-	-
	Control	3.66 ± 0.75	7/6/2
Marchesini, G, 1990	BCAA	3.41 ± 0.45	9/20/1	-	-	-
	Control	3.39 ± 0.43	7/16/1	-	-	-
Michel, H, 1985	BCAA	2.61 ± 0.10	4/28/4	10/26	0/36	-
	Control	2.76 ± 0.08	4/29/1	11/23	0/34	-
Ruiz-Margain, A, 2017	BCAA	3.2 ± 0.6	-	-	-	-
	Control	3.2 ± 0.7	-	-	-	-
Masahiro Kobayashi, 2008	BCAA	3.86 ± 0.26	-	19/0	19/0	9/10
	Control	3.90 ± 0.33	-	20/0	20/0	10/10

BCAA: Branched-chain amino acid.