Research

Mixed

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevalence in the US adult population is approximately 19.0%, with strong independent associations to obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia.

NAFLD is a common condition affecting nearly 1 in 5 US adults, strongly linked to obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance. It is often silent, meaning normal blood tests do not rule it out. Focus on metabolic health through weight management and blood sugar control to reduce liver fat.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The age-adjusted prevalence of NAFLD was 19% (95% CI: 17.5, 20.6), which corresponds to 28.8 (95% CI: 26.6, 31.2) million people in the United States... we found that there were strong independent associations between diabetes or insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and obesity with NAFLD.
Mariana Lazo et al. · American Journal of Epidemiology · 2013

Why this rating

Large, nationally representative cross-sectional study (NHANES III) with objective imaging (ultrasonography), though limited by the 1988-1994 data collection period.

Source

Prevalence of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the United States: The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994

Mariana Lazo et al. · American Journal of Epidemiology · 2013

DOI 10.1093/aje/kws448

cross_sectional · n=12454Cited 801×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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