Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan 27;14(1):158-167.
doi: 10.4254/wjh.v14.i1.158.

Redefining non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to metabolic associated fatty liver disease: Is this plausible?

Jalpa Devi  1 , Aimun Raees  2 , Amna Subhan Butt  3
Affiliations
Review

Redefining non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to metabolic associated fatty liver disease: Is this plausible?

Jalpa Devi et al. World J Hepatol. .

Abstract

Recently, a single letter change has taken the world by storm. A group of experts have developed a consensus to upgrade the term non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), suggesting that MAFLD would more accurately reflect not only the disease pathogenesis but would also help in patient stratification for management with NAFLD. However, the difference of opinion exists, which has made the NAFLD vs MAFLD debate the current talk of the town. This review will focus on the plausibility and implications of redefining NAFLD as MAFLD.

Keywords: Fatty liver disease; Metabolic associated fatty liver disease; Non-alcoholic fatty liver; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have nothing to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Difference between metabolic associated fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease criteria.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chalasani N, Younossi Z, Lavine JE, Diehl AM, Brunt EM, Cusi K, Charlton M, Sanyal AJ American Gastroenterological Association; American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases; American College of Gastroenterologyh. The diagnosis and management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: practice guideline by the American Gastroenterological Association, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and American College of Gastroenterology. Gastroenterology. 2012;142:1592–1609. - PubMed
    1. Younossi Z, Anstee QM, Marietti M, Hardy T, Henry L, Eslam M, George J, Bugianesi E. Global burden of NAFLD and NASH: trends, predictions, risk factors and prevention. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018;15:11–20. - PubMed
    1. . Younossi Z, Anstee QM, Marietti M, Hardy T, Henry L, Eslam M, George J, Bugianesi E. Global burden of NAFLD and NASH: trends, predictions, risk factors and prevention. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018;15:11–20. - PubMed
    1. Kleiner DE, Brunt EM, Van Natta M, Behling C, Contos MJ, Cummings OW, Ferrell LD, Liu YC, Torbenson MS, Unalp-Arida A, Yeh M, McCullough AJ, Sanyal AJ Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network. Design and validation of a histological scoring system for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology. 2005;41:1313–1321. - PubMed
    1. Bedossa P FLIP Pathology Consortium. Utility and appropriateness of the fatty liver inhibition of progression (FLIP) algorithm and steatosis, activity, and fibrosis (SAF) score in the evaluation of biopsies of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology. 2014;60:565–575. - PubMed