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Review
. 2022 Apr 28;10(2):329-338.
doi: 10.14218/JCTH.2021.00178. Epub 2021 Oct 19.

Metabolic-associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD): A Multi-systemic Disease Beyond the Liver

Eda Kaya  1 , Yusuf Yilmaz  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Metabolic-associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD): A Multi-systemic Disease Beyond the Liver

Eda Kaya et al. J Clin Transl Hepatol. .

Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multisystemic clinical condition that presents with a wide spectrum of extrahepatic manifestations, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, extrahepatic malignancies, cognitive disorders, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Among NAFLD patients, the most common mortality etiology is cardiovascular disorders, followed by extrahepatic malignancies, diabetes mellitus, and liver-related complications. Furthermore, the severity of extrahepatic diseases is parallel to the severity of NAFLD. In clinical practice, awareness of the associations of concomitant diseases is of major importance for initiating prompt and timely screening and multidisciplinary management of the disease spectrum. In 2020, a consensus from 22 countries redefined the disease as metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), which resulted in the redefinition of the corresponding population. Although the patients diagnosed with MAFLD and NAFLD mostly overlap, the MAFLD and NAFLD populations are not identical. In this review, we compared the associations of key extrahepatic diseases between NAFLD and MAFLD.

Keywords: Cardiometabolic risk factors; Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Fatty liver; Liver fibrosis; Metabolic diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interests related to this publication.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. MAFLD and its association with extrahepatic diseases.
MAFLD, Metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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