Management Concepts of Metabolic Dysfunction Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) Among Chinese Physicians

Attitudes, Perceptions, Clinical Practice, and Barriers in Diagnosis and Management of Patients With Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease: a Cross-sectional Survey on Physicians in China

This study is a cross-sectional survey-based study. The main goal of this study is to investigate the attitudes, perceptions, and clinical practice in assessing liver fibrosis following a metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) diagnosis, and the management of MASLD patients among Chinese physicians in the departments of endocrinology / hepatology / infection / gastroenterology in Grade IIIA hospitals in provincial capitals or municipalities.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Liver Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: No treatment is given

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 470

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Novo Nordisk; Phone Number: (+1) 866-867-7178; Email: clinicaltrials@novonordisk.com

Study Locations

• China
  • Beijing, China
    • Recruiting
    • Novo Nordisk Investigational site

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Physicians from department of endocrinology, hepatology, gastroenterology, department of infectious diseases, and from Grade IIIA hospitals located in provincial capitals will be enrolled to take the survey.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Has provided informed consent.
• Registered clinical practice location in provincial capital or municipality.
• Physician with a license for clinical practice.
• Employed in the Department of Endocrinology, Hepatology, Infection or Gastroenterology.
• Hospital level: Grade IIIA hospital.
• Hold a professional title of associate chief physician or above, or senior attending physician (as an attending physician for more than or equal to (≥) 3 years).
• Conducts outpatient clinics for at least 1 half-days per week.
• The patient load of MASLD/MASH per month in the department should be:
• a. Endocrinology ≥20 patients per month
• b. Hepatology/Gastroenterology/ Infectious ≥30 patients per month

Exclusion Criteria:

-Participants will be excluded if they have unwillingness precluding adequate cooperation, fail to complete the questionnaire, or submit questionnaires verified as invalid.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Physicians treating MASLD; The survey will be conducted via 15-minute online questionnaire survey of 30 specialists in the departments of endocrinology, hepatology, infection, and gastroenterology.	Other: No treatment is given; This study is a cross-sectional survey-based study. The design is observational and descriptive. Collection of data will be performed via a quantitative online survey.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
To investigate attitudes and perceptions concerning the reasons for further severity assessment (mainly refers to the assessment of liver fibrosis) following a MASLD diagnosis	The reason for severity assessment will be measured via questionnaires. The corresponding questionnaire items were designed to explore whether physicians would conduct further evaluation for patients diagnosed with MASLD and what dimensions such further evaluation would cover. Details of the questions are shown below: For patients with confirmed MASLD, will you perform additional diagnostic evaluation? (Single choice)Yes, I will conduct subsequent assessment and risk stratificationNo, a confirmed MASLD diagnosis is sufficient.; For physicians who selected "Yes": What dimensions will your additional diagnostic evaluation cover? (Multiple choices)Rule out other liver diseasesAssess metabolic comorbidities and risk factorsIdentify whether the patient has concurrent MASHDetermine the stage of liver fibrosisOthers, please specify	At the data capture (Day 1)
Methods used for diagnose liver fibrosis	Methods used for liver fibrosis diagnosis will be assessed via questionnaires. The corresponding questionnaire items asked physicians to select the examinations they use to assess the stage of liver fibrosis in patients with MASLD. For physicians who perform liver fibrosis staging: Among patients with confirmed MASLD, which of the following tools do you use in routine clinical practice to evaluate liver fibrosis stage? Available response options include FibroScan, FibroTouch, Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE), fibrosis-specific serological tests (e.g., PIIINP, C-IV, LN, HA), simple scoring systems (e.g., FIB-4, NFS, APRI), and others (please specify).	At the data capture (Day 1)
To find percentages of patients who undergo different liver fibrosis examination	Percentages of patients who undergo different liver fibrosis examination will be measured via questionnaires. The corresponding questionnaire items asked physicians to report the proportion of patients with MASLD for whom they utilize each liver fibrosis assessment method in routine clinical practice. For each selected examination tool, physicians report the proportion of patients receiving the test in their daily clinical work using predefined categories (≤10%, 10%-25%, 25%-50%, 50%-75%, and 75%-100%).	At the data capture (Day 1)
To find reasons for insufficient liver fibrosis assessment	This will be assessed via questionnaires. The corresponding questionnaire items investigate whether physicians believe there is insufficient liver fibrosis assessment in current clinical practice. Those who answer affirmatively are then asked to select contributing factors. For patients with confirmed MASLD, physicians are asked: do you think liver fibrosis assessment is currently inadequate in clinical practice? If yes, what are the leading causes of insufficient fibrosis evaluation? Physicians can select from predefined causes, including clinicians paying insufficient attention to liver fibrosis evaluation, low patient acceptance rate of liver biopsy, low diagnostic accuracy of existing noninvasive fibrosis assessment tools, lack of effective pharmacotherapies for liver fibrosis, and others (please specify). There is also an option indicating that there is no inadequate liver fibrosis assessment in clinical practice, which is mutually exclusive with the other options.	At the data capture (Day 1)
To investigate importance order of the reasons for insufficient liver fibrosis assessment	This will be measured via questionnaires. The corresponding questionnaire items investigate whether physicians believe there is insufficient liver fibrosis assessment in current clinical practice. Those who answer affirmatively are then asked to rank the contributing factors in order of importance. For the selected causes of insufficient fibrosis evaluation, physicians rank each factor based on its importance in contributing to inadequate liver fibrosis assessment in clinical practice.	At the data capture (Day 1)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Novo Nordisk A/S
• Investigators: Study Director: Clinical Transparency (dept. 2834), Novo Nordisk A/S

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 3, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 23, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 23, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 11, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 26, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): July 2, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 2, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 26, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Digestive System Diseases; Liver Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: DAS-8853; U1111-1336-6265 (Other Identifier: World Health Organization (WHO))

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: According to the Novo Nordisk disclosure commitment on novonordisk-trials.com

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No