Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: Conceptual changes for clinicians, researchers and patients

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common etiology of chronic liver disease threatening global public health. However, the name "NAFLD" is no longer appropriate with the change of time. Recently, a new term, "metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease" has been proposed by an international panel of experts, which implies profound conceptual changes in terms of its metabolism-related etiology and disease heterogeneity. In this article we discuss the specific conceptual changes that clinicians, researchers and patients must absorb.

Keywords: fatty liver; metabolic diseases; nomenclature; steatohepatitis.