Commentary
In an ongoing, community-based, cohort-study in Sri Lanka, participants were randomly selected in 2007, and were reassessed in 2014 to evaluate new-onset metabolic traits and cardiovascular-events. M. A. Niriella et al. (University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka) compared baseline characteristics, metabolic traits and cardiovascular-events after 7-years in NAFLD and MAFLD and vs. controls. Similarly, the authors compared these parameters in patients excluded by the NAFLD definition but captured by the MAFLD definition and vice versa, and vs. controls.
Although NAFLD and MAFLD had similar metabolic traits at baseline, and similar outcomes after 7-years, patients excluded by the NAFLD definition but captured by the MAFLD definition seem at higher risk of adverse outcomes than those excluded by the MAFLD definition but captured by the NAFLD definition. Redefining NAFLD as MAFLD seemed to improve clinical utility.
