Donghee Kim, MD, PhD
Credit: Stanford Medicine
New research is providing insight into the prevalence of lean steatotic liver disease (SLD) in the US, addressing potential changes in previous estimates following a 2023 change in liver disease nomenclature.1
Leveraging National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 2017-2023, investigators determined the age-adjusted prevalence of lean SLD to be 12.8%, including a 9.3% prevalence of lean metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a 1.3% prevalence of metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related steatotic liver disease (MetALD), and a 1.0% prevalence of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD).1
“A recent change in nomenclature from NAFLD to MASLD may have influenced the current estimates of lean MASLD, as some individuals categorized as…