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World J Hepatol. Jun 27, 2022; 14(6): 1087-1098
Published online Jun 27, 2022. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v14.i6.1087
Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease from childhood to adulthood: State of art and future directions
Francesca Lanzaro, Stefano Guarino, Elisabetta D'Addio, Alessandra Salvatori, Josè Alberto D'Anna, Pierluigi Marzuillo, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Anna Di Sessa
Francesca Lanzaro, Stefano Guarino, Elisabetta D'Addio, Alessandra Salvatori, Josè Alberto D'Anna, Pierluigi Marzuillo, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Anna Di Sessa, Department of Woman, Child, and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples 80138, Italy
Author contributions: Lanzaro F wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Miraglia del Giudice E, Di Sessa A, and Marzuillo P conceived the manuscript; Di Sessa A, Miraglia del Giudice E, and Marzuillo P supervised the manuscript drafting; D'Addio E, Salvatori A, Guarino S, and D'Anna JA reviewed the literature data; Guarino S and Lanzaro F prepared the tables; all author contributed important intellectual content during manuscript drafting or revision.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Pierluigi Marzuillo, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Woman, Child, and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via de Crecchio, 2, Naples 80138, Italy. pierluigi.marzuillo@gmail.com
Received: October 18, 2021
Peer-review started: October 18, 2021
First decision: December 3, 2021
Revised: December 26, 2021
Accepted: April 25, 2022
Article in press: April 25, 2022
Published online: June 27, 2022
Core Tip

Core tip: Recently, experts have proposed to rename nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), by emphasizing the close association of fatty liver with the metabolic milieu. Given that, a growing number of studies have tested the effectiveness of the new definition in adults and children, although evidence in this latter population is still limited. However, expanding knowledge about MAFLD and its pathophysiology is crucial for a better identification of subjects at greater metabolic risk.