Commentary
Despite their high prevalence, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) remain largely underdiagnosed and undertreated. Some question the name of the disease. To address this issue, some academic societies contribute to the debate. The American Gastroenterological Association and the Endocrine Society recently issued a “Call to Action” and the American Gastroenterological Association is drafting a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) Clinical Care Pathway, a practical tool for clinicians. As we know from literature reviews from 2020, several position articles recommended that NAFLD should be renamed to metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).
SA Polyzos et al. believe a different process is necessary, while still involving several stakeholders. The authors recommend an individualised but holistic management of relevant metabolic comorbidities (e.g. obesity, T2DM, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease) by multidisciplinary teams of experts (i.e., hepatologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, internists, pathologists). This could be a very important initiative towards decreasing the consequences of the NAFLD / NASH as we know NAFLD-related mortality and morbidity in terms of advanced liver disease will more than double from 2016 to 2030.
