United States: A recent official report suggests that obesity, alcohol consumption, and other areas are increasingly contributing to the cases of fatty liver disease among Americans, warns experts.
Study Findings
By 2018, the federal statistics demonstrated that 42 percent of adults had at least some kind of NAFLD; the actual figure, many researchers believe, is considerably higher than this figure; how, for instance, precisely, a group of researchers led by Dr. Juan Pablo Arab, a liver specialist with the Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, wanted to know.
Hispanic adults were at particularly elevated risk, the team identified, with 47 percent having been infected.
What is Fatty Liver Disease?
Fatty liver disease, as experts point is characterized by a slow and steady accumulation of fat in the blood-cleansing organ.
If left untreated, MASLD can lead to liver failure and severe kidney complications, according to the American Liver Foundation.
Study Methodology
This new study drew from data collected between 2017 and 2018 from 5,523 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
MASLD is by far the most frequently encountered liver disease, with an overall prevalence of 42 percent among the adult population.
ALD and MetALD are greatly reduced and account for only 1.7 percent and 0.6 percent of the total adult population, respectively.
Fatty liver disease, for instance, had higher incidence rates for men than women and reported higher incidences as age increased.
The high rate of MASLD among Hispanics was unexpected; however, one 2014 study estimated that only 29 percent of Hispanics experienced this disease at the time.
Researchers suggest that a combination of genetic predisposition, obesity, and high rates of diabetes in the Hispanic community may explain this higher risk.
Rising Cases Linked to Obesity & Diabetes
Obesity and type 2 diabetes are the main factors, as researchers noted.
Nearly 65 percent of those adults with overweight have MASLD, the team said, raising the risk to 90 percent among morbidly obese people.
Moreover, during that, almost 70 percent of patients with type-2 diabetes also suffered from MASLD, the expert team noted.
Conclusion
As Arab described, “This study highlights a significant health issue that affects a large portion of the U.S. population, and it shows that certain groups are at a higher risk,” and “We hope these findings will guide more targeted health interventions to reduce the burden of liver disease, especially in high-risk communities.”