Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to a clinicopathological syndrome characterized by excessive fat deposition in hepatocytes, excluding alcohol and other definite liver-damaging factors, and is an acquired metabolic stress-induced liver injury closely associated with insulin resistance and genetic susceptibility. It includes simple fatty liver (SFL), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and related cirrhosis. With the global epidemic trend of obesity and its related metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has now become an important cause of chronic liver disease in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, as well as in affluent regions of China. The prevalence of NAFLD in the general adult population is 10%–30%, of which 10%–20% is NASH, and the latter has a cirrhosis incidence rate of up to 25% within 10 years.