Prevalence and risk factors of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease among Korean adults

Abstract

These results demonstrate that the prevalence of NAFLD in Korean adults, according to sonographic surveys, is comparable to that seen in more developed countries. From the perspective of increasing obesity, the high prevalence rates noted in the study may herald an increased burden of chronic liver disease in the Korean population.

Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: East Versus West

“…48,49 This is in sharp contrast to Asian studies where the mean BMI is about 29 Kg/m 2 in India 53,54 ; 24 in Korea, 17 27 in Sri Lanka, 55 23 in China, 52 and 23 in Japan. 19 Initial studies from India that used the international criteria 56 for defining overweight and obesity found obesity in only 12-30% of patients 57,58 compared with 30-100% in Western studies depending on the population studied.…”

“…19 Data from other Asian countries show that the prevalence of fatty liver was higher in males being 13.3% and 2.7%, respectively, in males and females in China, 52 and 21.6% and 11.2%, respectively, in Korea. 17 The reason for this difference in gender distribution could be linked in part to the difference in lifestyles of women in Western and Eastern settings, but the role of a genetic predisposition in the Asian men seems likely given the recent discovery of the role of APO C3 polymorphisms in the Asian Indian men with NAFLD.…”

“…15 In other parts of Asia, the prevalence of NAFLD in DM was 56% in Iran, 35% in Korea, 40-50% in Japan, and 35% in China. 2,16,17 In the West, 57-74% of obese individuals have NAFLD and 15-20% have NASH. 8 Prevalence of NASH in morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery was very high in USA with 48-60% of men and 20-31% of women having histological NASH.…”

The diagnosis and management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Practice Guideline by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, and the American Gastroenterological Association

“…Recommendation is made with less certainty, higher cost or resource consumption Quality of Evidence High [A] Further research is unlikely to change confidence in the estimate of the clinical effect Moderate [B] Further research may change confidence in the estimate of the clinical effect Low [C] Further research is very likely to impact confidence on the estimate of clinical effect studies have shown that the prevalence of NAFLD increases with age. [24][25][26][27][28] The likelihood of disease progression to advanced fibrosis or mortality increases in older patients with NAFLD. [29][30][31] Many recent studies have reported that male gender is a risk factor for fatty liver disease.…”

Aging increases the susceptibility of hepatic inflammation, liver fibrosis and aging in response to high-fat diet in mice

“…Aging is also associated with increased lipid accumulation in nonadipose tissues, including the liver. Previous studies reported that aging increases the prevalence rates of the metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in human (Park et al 2006;Amarapurkar et al 2007). Generally, the prevalence rate of the NAFLD among adults is estimated at 15-30 %, whereas overall prevalence rate of NAFLD among elderly people aged more than 65 years was 35.1 % (Amarapurkar et al 2007;Chalasani et al 2012;Koehler et al 2012).…”