Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Oct 27, 2021; 13(10): 1203-1207
Published online Oct 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i10.1203
Transition of an acronym from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease
Shahinul Alam, Shah Mohammad Fahim
Shahinul Alam, Department of Hepatology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Shah Mohammad Fahim, Nutrition and Clinical Services Division, icddr, b, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Author contributions: Alam S and Fahim SM contributed to this paper; Alam S designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Fahim SM contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript; Alam S and Fahim SM contributed to the writing, and editing the manuscript, and review of literature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shahinul Alam, FCPS, MBBS, MD, Professor, Department of Hepatology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Shahbag, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. shahinul@bsmmu.edu.bd
Received: February 4, 2021
Peer-review started: February 4, 2021
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: May 10, 2021
Accepted: August 12, 2021
Article in press: August 12, 2021
Published online: October 27, 2021
Processing time: 260 Days and 8.1 Hours
Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global public health concern owing to its substantial contribution to chronic liver diseases. The disease is closely linked to metabolic syndrome (MS), suggesting a common biological pathway and shared disease mechanism for both ailments. Previous studies revealed a close relationship of NAFLD with the components of MS including abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and hyperglycemia. Hence, a group of experts recently renamed NAFLD as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in order to encompass a more appropriate pathogenesis of the disease. NAFLD was first named to describe a condition similar to alcoholic hepatitis in absence of significant alcohol consumption. However, knowledge pertaining to the etiopathogenesis of the disease has evolved over the past four decades. Recent evidence endorses NAFLD as a terminology of exclusion and suggests that it may often leads to misdiagnosis or inappropriate management of patients, particularly in clinical practice. On the other hand, the new definition is useful in addressing hepatic steatosis with metabolic dysfunction, which ultimately covers most of the patients with such illness. Therefore, it seems to be helpful in improving clinical diagnosis and managing high-risk patients with fatty liver disease. However, it is imperative to validate the new terminology at the population level to ensure a holistic approach to reduce the global burden of this heterogeneous disease condition.

Keywords: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease; Redefining; Redefinition of fatty liver disease

Core Tip: A consensus of experts recently renamed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease. The new definition is advantageous for improving clinical diagnosis and managing high-risk patients with fatty changes in liver.