Clinical differences between alcoholic liver disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Table 4 Outcome characteristics of patients with alcoholic liver disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Outcomes	ALD	NAFLD	Ref.
Hepatocarcinogenesis
Incidence rate
Simple hepatic steatosis/steatohepatitis		0%-0.2% per year	[115]
Steatohepatitis/cirrhosis		0.3%-4.3% per year	[115]
Compensated cirrhosis	0.7% per year		[90]
Decompensated cirrhosis	1.4% per year		[91]
Compensated/decompensated cirrhosis	2.5% per year	2.1% per year	[96]
Unknown stage		0.043% per year	[95]
Prevalence rate of non-cirrhotic liver as underlying liver disease	5.3%-12.0%	25.0%-58.3%	[116-118]
Comparison of survival	Similar to non-ALD, NBNC HCC	Better than ALD- or HCV-related HCC	[119,120]
Hepatic decompensation
Incidence rate
Compensated cirrhosis	4.4% per year	4.5% per year	[90,121]
Mortality (overall)
Incidence rate
Simple hepatic steatosis	3.3% per year		[52]
Steatohepatitis	5.0% per year		[52]
Steatohepatitis/cirrhosis		1.8% per year	[100]
Compensated cirrhosis	3.2% per year		[90]
Decompensated cirrhosis	5.7%-6.0% per year		[91,97]
Compensated/decompensated cirrhosis		5.0% per year	[124]
Compared with liver diseases due to other causes		Similar to HCV-related compensated liver disease	[100]
	Similar to HCV-related compensated cirrhosis	Better than HCV-related compensated cirrhosis	[90,122]
	Similar to HCV-related decompensated cirrhosis	Similar to HCV-related decompensated cirrhosis	[91,122]
		Similar to HCV-related cirrhosis	[124]
Improved survival	Abstinence		[123]
Causes of death
Simple hepatic steatosis			[55]
Liver-related causes	17%	2%
Arteriosclerosis	20%	38%
Extrahepatic malignancy	14%	17%
Infection	3%	8%
Cirrhosis			[90,97,98,122,124]
HCC	10%-13%	6.9%-47.4%
Liver failure	25%-60%	17.2%-31.6%
Cardiovascular disease	1%	27.6%
Cerebrovascular disease	1%-4%
Infection	8.9%-25%	41.4%
Extrahepatic malignancy	8%-25%

ALD: Alcoholic liver disease; NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; NBNC: Non-B, non-C; HCV: Hepatitis C virus.