AUTHOR=Liu Jiaye , Mu Chunyang , Li Kewei , Luo Han , Liu Yong , Li Zhihui 

TITLE=Estimating Global Prevalence of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease in Overweight or Obese Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 66 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2021.1604371

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2021.1604371

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a new terminology recently updated from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Large-scale epidemiological data on MAFLD is lacking. Therefore, we aim to estimate the global prevalence of MAFLD in overweight or obese children and adolescents, by repurposing existing data on fatty liver disease. Our search returned 35441 records, of which 156 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The overall prevalence of MAFLD was 33.78% in general population of overweight or obese children and adolescents and 44.94% in special population, regardless of the diagnostic techniques. For subgroup analysis, MAFLD prevalence was significantly higher in boys compared to girls (36.05% vs 26.84% in general population; 50.20% vs 35.34% in child obesity clinics based population). In the general population, a higher prevalence rate was observed in developing compared to developed countries. Interestingly, based on study source, the pooled prevalence of MAFLD was 1.5 fold higher in other “fatty liver disease” studies (43.13%) compared to the classical “NAFLD” studies (30.80%) in general population. Raising awareness and urgent actions are warranted to control MAFLD pandemic across the globe.