Current Burden of Lean Metabolic Dysfunction‐Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Among US Adults, 2017–2023

ABSTRACT Our study investigated the prevalence of lean steatotic liver disease (SLD) and its subcategories, including metabolic dysfunction‐associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction‐related and alcohol‐related SLD (MetALD), and alcohol‐related liver disease (ALD) among lean adults in the US. Analysing data from 2965 lean adults (≥ 18 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017–2023), we found the age‐adjusted prevalence of lean SLD to be 12.8%. Specifically, the prevalence was 9.3% for lean MASLD, 1.3% for MetALD and 1.0% for ALD. Notably, within the MASLD group, significant fibrosis, advanced fibrosis, and cirrhosis were observed in 5.6%, 2.4% and 2.0%, respectively.