Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

NAFLD

What are the clinical settings and outcomes of lean NAFLD?

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 18, pages 289–290 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has increased rapidly and is associated with obesity in epidemiology and pathogenesis. A new study reports that hepatic and extrahepatic complications can develop in lean individuals with NAFLD, highlighting the importance of metabolic phenotypes in NAFLD assessment instead of BMI-based approaches.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Ye, Q. et al. Global prevalence, incidence, and outcomes of non-obese or lean non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 5, 739–752 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Younossi, Z. et al. Global burden of NAFLD and NASH: trends, predictions, risk factors and prevention. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 15, 11–20 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Young, S. et al. Prevalence and Profile of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Lean Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Hepatol. Commun. 4, 953–972 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sookoian, S. & Pirola, C. J. Systematic review with meta-analysis: the significance of histological disease severity in lean patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 47, 16–25 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Younes, R. et al. Caucasian lean subjects with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease share long-term prognosis of non-lean: time for reappraisal of BMI-driven approach? Gut https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2020-322564 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen, F. et al. Lean NAFLD: A Distinct Entity Shaped by Differential Metabolic Adaptation. Hepatology 71, 1213–1227 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Musso, G. et al. Dietary habits and their relations to insulin resistance and postprandial lipemia in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Hepatology 37, 909–916 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Albhaisi, S., Chowdhury, A. & Sanyal, A. J. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in lean individuals. JHEP Rep. 1, 329–341 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Koo, B. K. et al. Sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and significant fibrosis. J. Hepatol. 66, 123–131 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Eslam, M. et al. A new definition for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: An international expert consensus statement. J. Hepatol. 73, 202–209 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Lab of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai, China

    Tian-Yi Ren & Jian-Gao Fan

Authors
  1. Tian-Yi Ren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jian-Gao Fan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian-Gao Fan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ren, TY., Fan, JG. What are the clinical settings and outcomes of lean NAFLD?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 18, 289–290 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-021-00433-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-021-00433-5

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing