Comparing the Diagnostic Criteria of MAFLD and NAFLD in the Chinese Population: A Population-based Prospective Cohort Study
Cheng Yu, Minzhen Wang, Shan Zheng, Miao Xia, Hongyan Yang, Desheng Zhang, Chun Yin, Ning Cheng, Yana Bai
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a new concept, proposed in 2020; however, its applicability in Asia populations has yet to be evaluated. Therefore, we aimed to compare the difference in epidemiological and clinical characteristics between MAFLD and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among Asian populations. METHODS: Based on the Jinchang cohort, 30,633 participants were collected. The prevalence and incidence of MAFLD and NAFLD were used to analyze the epidemic characteristics and its overlapping effects. In addition, the corresponding clinical characteristics of the two diagnostic criteria populations were compared. RESULTS: <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with NAFLD, the newly proposed definition of MAFLD is more practical and accurate, and it can help identify more fatty liver patients with high-risk diseases.