Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered to be most common form of chronic liver disease in Western countries. It exhibits a wide clinicopathologic spectrum that ranges from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is commonly related to the components of the metabolic syndrome, such as obesity. It has been observed that approximately 90% of NAFLD patients have more than one component of the metabolic syndrome. Additionally, the risk of having NAFLD increases exponentially with the addition of each of the metabolic syndrome components. 

 Epidemiological surveys suggest that the prevalence of adult obesity and the metabolic syndrome is 34% in the United States, while NAFLD affects about 30% of general Western population with obesity as an independent risk factor. It has been predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) that by 2015, almost 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. A study revealed the prevalence of ultrasonographic NAFLD to be 46%, with as high as 45% prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Moreover, while assessing by a liver biopsy in ultrasound positive patients, 30% of patients with NAFLD had NASH. The outcome of another study provided evidence that obesity was an independent predictor of NAFLD. This alarming parallel epidemic of obesity has proportionally aggravated the prevalence of NAFLD that would make NASH, the most common cause of advanced liver disease in coming era.

Source: Carvalhana S, Cortez-Pinto H. From Obesity to Fatty Liver/NASH: Two Parallel Epidemics. Available at: https://www.worldgastroenterology.org/publications/e-wgn/e-wgn-expert-point-of-view-articles-collection/from-obesity-to-fatty-livernash-two-parallel-epidemics. Accessed on: 30-11-2020.