Table 4.
Challenges of Studies on Therapy Approaches in DILI | First Author |
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Some liver injury study cohorts did not provide a list of offending drug(s), while other cohorts included a mix of potential hepatotoxic compounds such as conventional drugs used at recommended doses, overdosed drugs like acetaminophen, herbal medicine, alternative medications, ethyl alcohol, and alcohol surrogates. | Benić 2022 [112] |
Heterogeneity of clinical presentation, disease severity, or toxicity grades | Delire 2022 [113] |
Ancillary analysis of liver injury severity | Niu 2020 [114] |
Lack of DILI definition | Benić 2022 [112] |
Divergent therapy efficacy results and variability of efficacy criteria | Niu 2020 [114] |
Failure to consider and differentiate liver injury pattern as hepatocellular, cholestatic, or mixed | Delire 2022 [113] Niu 2020 [114] |
Medications not used alone but in combination with other medications | Niu 2022 [114] |
Low case number of DILI study cohorts | Benić 2022 [112] Niu 2020 [114] |
Inclusion of cases with ALT values 2–5 times those of the ULN, thereby representing liver adaptation rather than real liver injury characteristics | Benić 2022 [112] Niu 2020 [114] |
Low or very low grade of certainty evidence reached in most studies | Benić 2022 [112] |
Retrospective rather than the preferred prospective study design | Benić 2022 [112] |
Bias with respect to selection (random sequence generation and allocation concealment), performance and detection of bias (blinding of participants, personnel, and outcome assessment) | Benić 2022 [112] Niu 2020 [114] |
Lack of data about causality assessment or with only limited use of RUCAM | Benić 2022 [112] Delire 2022 [113] Niu 2020 [114] |
Randomized, single blind rather than double blind study protocol | Benić 2020 [112] |
China as the preferred reporting country, as many treatment efficiency trials had their focus on traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) | Benić 2022 [112] Niu 2020 [114] |