327
Views
35
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Perspective

A single-letter change in an acronym: signals, reasons, promises, challenges, and steps ahead for moving from NAFLD to MAFLD

ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon & ORCID Icon
Pages 345-352 | Received 31 Oct 2020, Accepted 02 Dec 2020, Published online: 09 Dec 2020

References

  • Hashimoto E, Taniai M, Tokushige K. Characteristics and diagnosis of NAFLD/NASH. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;28(Suppl 4):64–70.
  • Musso G, Gambino R, Tabibian JH, et al. Association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2014;11:e1001680.
  • Chalasani N, Younossi Z, Lavine JE, et al. The diagnosis and management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: practice guidance from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Hepatology. 2018;67:328–357.
  • Younossi ZM. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - A global public health perspective. J Hepatol. 2019;70:531–544.
  • Kaya E, Yılmaz Y. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a growing public health problem in Turkey. Turk J Gastroenterol. 2019;30:865–871.
  • Younossi Z, Tacke F, Arrese M, et al. Global perspectives on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Hepatology. 2019;69:2672–2682.
  • Sheka AC, Adeyi O, Thompson J, et al. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a review. JAMA. 2020;323:1175–1183.
  • Rinella ME, Loomba R, Caldwell SH, et al. Controversies in the diagnosis and management of NAFLD and NASH. Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014;10:219–227.
  • Perumpail BJ, Khan MA, Yoo ER, et al. Clinical epidemiology and disease burden of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2017;23:8263–8276.
  • Pais R, Barritt AS 4th, Calmus Y, et al. NAFLD and liver transplantation: current burden and expected challenges. J Hepatol. 2016;65:1245–1257.
  • Kaul U, Parmar D, Manjunath K, et al. New dual peroxisome proliferator activated receptor agonist-Saroglitazar in diabetic dyslipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: integrated analysis of the real world evidence. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2019;18:80.
  • Sumida Y, Yoneda M. Current and future pharmacological therapies for NAFLD/NASH. J Gastroenterol. 2018;53:362–376.
  • Romero-Gómez M, Zelber-Sagi S, Trenell M. Treatment of NAFLD with diet, physical activity and exercise. J Hepatol. 2017;67:829–846.
  • Eslam M, Sanyal AJ, George J; International Consensus Panel. MAFLD: a consensus-driven proposed nomenclature for metabolic associated fatty liver disease. Gastroenterology. 2020;158:1999–2014.
  • Eslam M, Newsome PN, Sarin SK, et al. A new definition for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: an international expert consensus statement. J Hepatol. 2020;73:202–209.
  • Ludwig J, Viggiano TR, McGill DB, et al. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: mayo clinic experiences with a hitherto unnamed disease. Mayo Clin Proc. 1980;55:434–438.
  • Loria P, Lonardo A, Carulli N. Should nonalcoholic fatty liver disease be renamed? Dig Dis. 2005;23:72–82.
  • Dufour JF. Time to abandon NASH? Hepatology. 2016;63:9–10.
  • Bellentani S, Tiribelli C. Is it time to change NAFLD and NASH nomenclature? Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;2:547–548.
  • Eslam M, Sanyal AJ, George J. Toward more accurate nomenclature for fatty liver diseases. Gastroenterology. 2019;157:590–593.
  • Fouad Y, Waked I, Bollipo S, et al. What’s in a name? Renaming ‘NAFLD’ to ‘MAFLD’. Liver Int. 2020;40:1254–1261.
  • Valenti L, Pelusi S. Redefining fatty liver disease classification in 2020. Liver Int. 2020;40:1016–1017.
  • The Lancet Gastroenterology Hepatology. Redefining non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: what’s in a name? Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;5:419.
  • Zheng KI, Fan JG, Shi JP, et al. From NAFLD to MAFLD: a “redefining” moment for fatty liver disease. Chin Med J (Engl). 2020. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1097/CM9.0000000000000981
  • Araújo AR, Rosso N, Bedogni G, et al. Global epidemiology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: what we need in the future. Liver Int. 2018;38(Suppl 1):47–51.
  • Boyd KM. Disease, illness, sickness, health, healing and wholeness: exploring some elusive concepts. Med Humanit. 2000;26:9–17.
  • Cook N, Geier A, Schmid A, et al. The patient perspectives on future therapeutic options in NASH and patient needs. Front Med (Lausanne). 2019;6:61.
  • Cao G, Yi T, Liu Q, et al. Alcohol consumption and risk of fatty liver disease: a meta-analysis. PeerJ. 2016;4:e2633.
  • Hajifathalian K, Torabi Sagvand B, McCullough AJ. Effect of alcohol consumption on survival in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a national prospective cohort study. Hepatology. 2019;70:511–521.
  • Long MT, Massaro JM, Hoffmann U, et al. Alcohol use is associated with hepatic steatosis among persons with presumed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;18:1831–1841.
  • Chang Y, Cho YK, Kim Y, et al. Non-heavy drinking and worsening of non-invasive fibrosis markers in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a cohort study. Hepatology. 2019;69:64–75.
  • GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators. Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2018;392:1015–1035.
  • Liu B, Balkwill A, Reeves G, et al. Body mass index and risk of liver cirrhosis in middle aged UK women: prospective study. BMJ. 2010;340:c912.
  • Hart CL, Morrison DS, Batty GD, et al. Effect of body mass index and alcohol consumption on liver disease: analysis of data from two prospective cohort studies. BMJ. 2010;340:c1240.
  • European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL); European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD); European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). EASL-EASD-EASO clinical practice guidelines for the management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Hepatol. 2016;64:1388–1402.
  • Bertot LC, Jeffrey GP, Wallace M, et al. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-related cirrhosis is commonly unrecognized and associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatol Commun. 2017;1:53–60.
  • Tilg H, Effenberger M. From NAFLD to MAFLD: when pathophysiology succeeds. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;17:387–388.
  • Manson JE, Skerrett PJ, Greenland P, et al. The escalating pandemics of obesity and sedentary lifestyle. A call to action for clinicians. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:249–258.
  • Diehl AM, Farpour-Lambert NJ, Zhao L, et al. Why we need to curb the emerging worldwide epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Nat Metab. 2019;1:1027–1029.
  • Pennisi G, Celsa C, Spatola F, et al. Pharmacological therapy of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: what drugs are available now and future perspectives. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16:4334.
  • Sumida Y, Okanoue T, Nakajima A, et al. Phase 3 drug pipelines in the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Hepatol Res. 2019;49:1256–1262.
  • Targher G, Byrne CD, Tilg H. NAFLD and increased risk of cardiovascular disease: clinical associations, pathophysiological mechanisms and pharmacological implications. Gut. 2020;69:1691–1705.
  • Byrne CD, Targher G. NAFLD: a multisystem disease. J Hepatol. 2015;62(1 Suppl):S47−64.
  • Neuschwander-Tetri BA, Loomba R, Sanyal AJ, et al. Farnesoid X nuclear receptor ligand obeticholic acid for non-cirrhotic, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (FLINT): a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2015;385:956–965.
  • Siddiqui MS, Van Natta ML, Connelly MA, et al. Impact of obeticholic acid on the lipoprotein profile in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. J Hepatol. 2020;72:25–33.
  • Labenz C, Prochaska JH, Huber Y, et al. Cardiovascular risk categories in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and the role of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Hepatol Commun. 2019;3:1472–1481.
  • MacEwan JP, Seabury S, Aigbogun MS, et al. Pharmaceutical innovation in the treatment of schizophrenia and mental disorders compared with other diseases. Innov Clin Neurosci. 2016;13:17–25.
  • Younossi ZM, Rinella ME, Sanyal A, et al. From NAFLD to MAFLD: implications of a premature change in terminology. Hepatology. 2020 Jun 16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.31420.
  • Bianco C, Romeo S, Petta S, et al. MAFLD vs NAFLD: let the contest begin! Liver Int. 2020;40:2079–2081.
  • Kleiner DE, Makhlouf HR. Histology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in adults and children. Clin Liver Dis. 2016;20:293–312.
  • Brown GT, Kleiner DE. Histopathology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Metabolism. 2016;65:1080–1086.
  • Angulo P, Kleiner DE, Dam-Larsen S, et al. Liver fibrosis, but no other histologic features, is associated with long-term outcomes of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Gastroenterology. 2015;149:389–397.
  • Hagström H, Nasr P, Ekstedt M, et al. Fibrosis stage but not NASH predicts mortality and time to development of severe liver disease in biopsy-proven NAFLD. J Hepatol. 2017;67:1265–1273.
  • Dufour JF, Caussy C, Loomba R. Combination therapy for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: rationale, opportunities and challenges. Gut. 2020;69:1877–1884.
  • Ratziu V, Goodman Z, Sanyal A. Current efforts and trends in the treatment of NASH. J Hepatol. 2015;62:S65–75.
  • Taylor RS, Taylor RJ, Bayliss S, et al. Association between fibrosis stage and outcomes of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Gastroenterology. 2020;158:1611–1625.
  • Katsarou A, Moustakas II, Pyrina I, et al. Metabolic inflammation as an instigator of fibrosis during non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2020;26:1993–2011.
  • Cheah MC, McCullough AJ, Goh GB. Current modalities of fibrosis assessment in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Clin Transl Hepatol. 2017;5:261–271.
  • Zuberbuhler F, Boursier J. Noninvasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis in NAFLD: tips tricks. Clin Res Hepatol Gastroenterol. 2019;43:658–662.
  • Alberti KG, Eckel RH, Grundy SM, et al. Harmonizing the metabolic syndrome: a joint interim statement of the international diabetes federation task force on epidemiology and prevention; National heart, lung, and blood institute; American heart association; World heart federation; International atherosclerosis society; and International association for the study of obesity. Circulation. 2009;120:1640–1645.
  • Kanwal F, Kramer JR, Li L, et al. Effect of metabolic traits on the risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology. 2020;71:808–819.
  • Benyamin B, Sørensen TIA, Schousboe K, et al. Are there common genetic and environmental factors behind the endophenotypes associated with the metabolic syndrome? Diabetologia. 2007;50:1880–1888.
  • Pang Z, Zhang D, Li S, et al. Multivariate modelling of endophenotypes associated with the metabolic syndrome in Chinese twins. Diabetologia. 2010;53:2554–2561.
  • Guloksuz S, van Os J. Renaming schizophrenia: 5 × 5. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2019;28:254–257.
  • Eslam M, Sarin SK, Wong VW, et al. The Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of metabolic associated fatty liver disease. Hepatol Int. 2020. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-020-10094-2
  • Mendez-Sanchez N, Arrese M, Gadano A, et al. The Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (ALEH) position statement on the redefinition of fatty liver disease. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30340-X. S2468-1253(20)30340-X.
  • Shiha G, Alswat K, Al Khatry M, et al. Nomenclature and definition of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease: a consensus from the Middle East and north Africa. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30213-2. S2468-1253(20)30213-2.
  • Demirtas CO, Yilmaz Y. Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease: time to integrate ground-breaking new terminology to our clinical practice? Hepatol Forum. 2020;3:79–81.
  • Shiha G, Korenjak M, Eskridge W, et al. Redefining fatty liver disease: an international patient perspective. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30294-6. S2468-1253(20)30294-6.
  • Fouad Y, Elwakil R, Elsahhar M, et al. The NAFLD-MAFLD debate: eminence versus evidence. Liver Int. 2020. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/liv.14739
  • Lin S, Huang J, Wang M, et al. Comparison of MAFLD and NAFLD diagnostic criteria in real world. Liver Int. 2020;40:2082–2089.
  • Wong VW, Wong GL, Woo J, et al. Impact of the new definition of metabolic associated fatty liver disease on the epidemiology of the disease. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020. S1542-3565:31504–4.
  • Yamamura S, Eslam M, Kawaguchi T, et al. MAFLD identifies patients with significant hepatic fibrosis better than NAFLD. Liver Int. 2020;40:3018–3030.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.