Epidemiology of lean/non-obese nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in China

• Published in: Saudi medical journal 2023-09, Vol.44 (9), p.848-863
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jianmei, Huang, Xiaocheng, Dong Luying, Yang Yachao, Kong Dehuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asian people; Body mass index; Cholesterol; Diabetes; Epidemiology; Hypertension; Liver diseases; Meta-analysis; Metabolic disorders; Obesity; Overweight; Population; Systematic review; Ultrasonic imaging
• ISSN: 0379-5284; 1658-3175
• DOI: 10.15537/smj.2023.44.9.20230021

Objectives:To assess the prevalence and metabolic characteristics of lean/non-obese (L/NO) nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in China.Methods:The databses, inlcuding PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, as well as Cochrane databases, were retrieved for eligible studies. The prevalence together with clinical features of L/NO-NAFLD in China were analyzed using a random/fixed effects model. Lean or nonobese participants were characterized by the cut-offs of body mass index used in original studies. Heterogeneity was identified using meta-regression and subgroup analyses.Results:We included 25 studies for the final analysis comprising 229091 L/NO Chinese adults and 22641 diagnosed with NAFLD, with the NAFLD prevalence of 8.98% (95% confidence interval [CI]: [5.55-13.13] for L-NAFLD Chinese participants and 13.77% (95% CI: [11.13-16.63]) for NO-NAFLD Chinese participants. This prevalence gradually increased during the past few years. The community and health checkup populations presented similar prevalence (14.19% vs. 13.55%). Meanwhile, L/NO patients with NAFLD showed lower blood pressure (128.86/80.48 vs. 136.09/84.98 mmHg), waist circumference (80.63 vs. 92.73 cm), fasting blood glucose (5.53 vs. 5.69 mmol/L), uric acid (339.14 vs. 365.46 μmol/L), triglyceride levels (1.63 vs. 1.94 mmol/L), alanine transaminase (30.28 vs. 33.12 IU/L), and γ-glutamyl transferase (29.9 vs. 43.68 IU/L), but higher levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.33 vs. 1.26 mmol/L) compared to overweight/obese (OW/O) patients with NAFLD.Conclusion:Prevalence of NAFLD was slightly lower among the L/NO-NAFLD Chinese population than the global level but has obviously increased recently. In addition, the metabolic profile of L/NO-NAFLD patients was generally better compared to OW/O-NAFLD patients.PROSPERO Reg. No.: CRD42022327240