Noting that the term “nonalcoholic fatty liver disease” (NAFLD) is stigmatizing, an international group of medical organizations proposed a name change to “metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease” (MASLD).
This new name, formulated by 236 experts from 54 countries, was recently announced in a consensus statement in the journal Hepatology opens in a new tab or window, after 74% of panelists agreed that the current name was “sufficiently flawed.”
“The consensus was the result of a transparent and fair process that engaged the global community and the patient community,” said panelist Meena B. Bansal, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and a spokesperson for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). “It wasn’t just a small group of experts.”