Prevalence, distribution and hepatic fibrosis burden of the different subtypes of steatotic liver disease in primary care settings

Background and Aim: In relation to the new umbrella terminology for steatotic liver disease (SLD), we aimed to elucidate the prevalence, distribution, and clinical characteristics of the SLD subgroups in the primary care setting. Approach and Results: We retrospectively collected data from 2535 individuals who underwent magnetic resonance elastography and MRI proton density fat fraction during health checkups in 5 primary care health promotion clinics. We evaluated the presence of cardiometabolic risk factors according to predefined criteria and divided all the participants according to the new SLD classification. The prevalence of SLD was 39.13% in the total cohort, and 95.77% of the SLD cases had metabolic dysfunction (one or more cardiometabolic risk factors). The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) was 29.51%, with those of metabolic dysfunction and alcohol associated steatotic liver disease (MetALD) and alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) at 7.89% and 0.39%, respectively. According to the old criteria, the prevalence of NAFLD was 29.11%, and 95.80% of the NAFLD cases fulfilled the new criteria for MASLD. The distribution of SLD subtypes was highest for MASLD, at 75.40%, followed by MetALD at 20.06%, cryptogenic SLD at 3.33%, and ALD at 1.01%. The MetALD group had a significantly higher mean magnetic resonance elastography than the MASLD or ALD group. Conclusion: Almost all the patients with NAFLD met the new criteria for MASLD. The fibrosis burden of the MetALD group was higher than those of the MASLD and ALD groups.