Perumpail BJ, Khan MA, Yoo ER, Cholankeril G, Kim D, Ahmed A. Clinical epidemiology and disease burden of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. World J Gastroenterol 2017; 23(47): 8263-8276 [PMID: 29307986 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i47.8263]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Aijaz Ahmed, MD, Associate Professor, Attending Doctor, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 750 Welch Road # 210, Palo Alto, CA 94304, United States. aijazahmed@stanford.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 21, 2017; 23(47): 8263-8276 Published online Dec 21, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i47.8263
Clinical epidemiology and disease burden of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Brandon J Perumpail, Muhammad Ali Khan, Eric R Yoo, George Cholankeril, Donghee Kim, Aijaz Ahmed
Brandon J Perumpail, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19129, United States
Muhammad Ali Khan, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Health Science Center, University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN 38163, United States
Eric R Yoo, Department of Medicine, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA 95128, United States
George Cholankeril, Donghee Kim, Aijaz Ahmed, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94304, United States
Author contributions: Perumpail BJ, Khan MA, Kim D, Cholankeril G and Ahmed A drafted the manuscript; Cholankeril G and Ahmed A critically revised intellectual input; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflicts of interest or financial disclosure relevant to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Aijaz Ahmed, MD, Associate Professor, Attending Doctor, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 750 Welch Road # 210, Palo Alto, CA 94304, United States. aijazahmed@stanford.edu
Telephone: +1-650-4986091 Fax: +1-650-4985692
Received: October 22, 2017 Peer-review started: October 25, 2017 First decision: November 8, 2017 Revised: November 8, 2017 Accepted: December 4, 2017 Article in press: December 4, 2017 Published online: December 21, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a term for a host of histological findings stemming from hepatic steatosis and remains the most common liver disease globally with increasing prevalence. The vast variation in disease presentation complicates diagnosis, leading to an underestimate of actual disease occurrence. NAFLD is associated with many metabolic comorbidities, including obesity, type II diabetes, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome. Its potential to develop into more severe liver conditions, such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, advanced fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, can lead to a state in which liver transplantation is the only treatment option available. The population at risk of developing progressive liver disease creates a challenge to the healthcare system in terms of screening for this evolving epidemic of liver disease.
