Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus: The liver disease of our age?

Table 1 Prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

NAFLD/NAFL prevalence	NASH prevalence	Population studied	Population size	Method of diagnosis	Remark	Ref.
46 (40)% NAFLD in the entire US cohort	12.2% in the US entire cohort	18-70 yr aged US cohort	328	Liver biopsy (in 134 ultrasound pre-screend patients)		[6]
	29.9% in patients with NAFLD				Greatest risk for both NAFLD and NASH in Hispanics and with diabetes
NAFL: 49.3%-mild, moderate, and severe NAFL in 38.9%, 9.0% and 1.4% donor candidates respectively (mild steatosis was defined as fatty changes in 5%-30% of hepatocytes, moderate steatosis in 30% to 60% of hepatocytes, and severe steatosis in > 60% of hepatocytes without significant inflammation on liver histology)	2.2% (Asian population)	Korean living liver donor candidates	589	589 US guided liver biopsy		[126]
NAFL: 4.2% in pediatric European population	1% (pediatric population)	European children (6 mo-18 yr old)	342 medicolegal autopsy reports/265 children died from trauma	Histopathology at autopsy (and typical macroscopic imaging)	Excess body weight was observed in 55.6% of children with NAFL	[11]
NAFLD 9.6% in pediatric US population fatty liver was defined as > or = 5% of hepatocytes containing macrovesicular fat	NR	United States children (2-19 yr old)	742 children (2-19 yr old) who had autopsy (form 1993 to 2003)	Histopathology at autopsy	Different prevalence according to subpopulation (Asians: 10.2%; Black: 1.5%; Hispanic: 11.8%; White: 8.6%). The highest rate of NAFLD was seen in obese children (38%)	[12]
NAFLD 31% in adult Urban US population	NR	Large, ethnically diverse, probability-based adult population sample from Dallas, Texas, United States -participants in the Dallas Heart Study	2349	1H-MRS of the liver to quantify HTGC	79% of patients with hepatic steatosis had normal levels of serum alanine aminotransferase. Different prevalence of hepatic steatosis in different sub-populations: 45% in Hispanics, 33% in Whites and 24% in Blacks	[4]

Based on histological examination or proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) measurement in Hallmark Studies. HTGC: Hepatic triglyceride content; NAFLD: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; NAFL: Non-alcoholic fatty liver; NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; NR: Not reported.