Effect of Pioglitazone on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Morbid Obese Patients; a Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common obesity-related disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of pioglitazone on NAFLD in morbid obese patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a randomized controlled trial study that was performed in 2020–2021 on 44 patients who had grade 3 NAFLD. At the beginning of the study, we collected the following data: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBS), lipid profile, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and the total size and volume of the liver and the left lobe of the liver. Patients in the control group were given a special diet. For patients in the treatment group, pioglitazone 15 mg tablets were administered twice daily for 4 months. RESULTS: At the beginning of the study, all patients in both groups had grade 3 of NAFLD. After the treatments, 50% of the pioglitazone group had grade 1 NAFLD, and 50% of other patients had grade 2 that showed significant improvements in patients (P < 0.001). We also found significant improvements in the following items in the intervention group: liver size (P < 0.001), size of the left liver lobe (P < 0.001), FBS (P = 0.036), ALT (P = 0.011), and BMI (P < 0.001). No significant improvements were found in the control group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The use of pioglitazone for 4 months resulted in improvements in fatty liver stage, liver size, BMI, FBS, and lipid profile. These data show the effectiveness of pioglitazone in NAFLD.