New Nomenclature Redefines Fatty Liver Disease Therapy, says Chinese Medical Journal Study

BEIJING, Dec. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Excess fat accumulation in the liver is detrimental to health and can lead to liver cancer. Given the link between this condition and alcohol consumption, the presence of fatty livers in individuals who don't consume large amounts of alcohol was termed "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease" or NAFLD in the 1980s.

Subsequent research on NAFLD has since expanded our knowledge of the causes and effects of the condition, making NAFLD an inaccurate and exclusionary term and warranting a change in disease definition. As described in a Chinese Medical Journal editorial published on 20 October 2020, the nomenclature and definition of this disease have fallen short, making it necessary for experts to reconsider what NAFLD actually represents.

Recently, an international panel of experts mutually assented to the renaming of NAFLD to MAFLD—metabolic associated fatty liver disease in full—and also redefined its diagnostic criteria to better reflect our current knowledge of the disease. This move, the editorial highlights, could address several problems related to the previous nomenclature of this condition, which has become a public health problem worldwide.

"The umbrella term NAFLD oversimplified this disease, wrongly implying that it only impacts people with low alcohol consumption and that all patients have similar experiences. This negatively affected the perception and clinical management of the disease. The term MAFLD is more representative because it alludes to the strong link between fat accumulation in the liver and metabolic disorders," says Dr. Ming-Hua Zheng, lead author, about this landmark decision. "This will revolutionize how we think about liver diseases that are linked to fat deposition and metabolic dysfunction," he adds.

The new definition of MAFLD also makes disease diagnosis easier, replacing an exclusion-based principle with one based on the presence of metabolic disorders, irrespective of alcohol consumption. This move paves the way for further disease subclassfication, which could become instrumental for individualized medicine. It also eliminates the stigma associated with "alcoholic," which is important from a disease advocacy perspective.  

Dr. Zheng and other experts strongly feel that this decision will spearhead systematic improvement in disease awareness and research, and eventually clinical management. He says, "It's great that this term is already being adopted. Although its global acceptance will take time, the decision is a milestone towards successfully tackling this disease."

Reference
Title of original paper: From NAFLD to MAFLD: a "redefining" moment for fatty liver disease
Journal: Chinese Medical Journal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/CM9.0000000000000981

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SOURCE Chinese Medical Journal