PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zhang, Jianmei
AU  - Huang, Xiaocheng
AU  - Dong, Luying
AU  - Yang, Yachao
AU  - Kong, Dehuan
TI  - Epidemiology of lean/non-obese nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in China
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2023.44.9.20230021
DP  - 2023 Sep 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 848--863
VI  - 44
IP  - 9
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/44/9/848.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/44/9/848.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2023 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Objectives: To assess the prevalence and metabolic characteristics of lean/non-obese (L/NO) nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in China.Methods: The databses, inlcuding PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, as well as Cochrane databases, were retrieved for eligible studies. The prevalence together with clinical features of L/NO-NAFLD in China were analyzed using a random/fixed effects model. Lean or nonobese participants were characterized by the cut-offs of body mass index used in original studies. Heterogeneity was identified using meta-regression and subgroup analyses.Results: We included 25 studies for the final analysis comprising 229091 L/NO Chinese adults and 22641 diagnosed with NAFLD, with the NAFLD prevalence of 8.98% (95% confidence interval [CI]: [5.55-13.13] for L-NAFLD Chinese participants and 13.77% (95% CI: [11.13-16.63]) for NO-NAFLD Chinese participants. This prevalence gradually increased during the past few years. The community and health checkup populations presented similar prevalence (14.19% vs. 13.55%). Meanwhile, L/NO patients with NAFLD showed lower blood pressure (128.86/80.48 vs. 136.09/84.98 mmHg), waist circumference (80.63 vs. 92.73 cm), fasting blood glucose (5.53 vs. 5.69 mmol/L), uric acid (339.14 vs. 365.46 μmol/L), triglyceride levels (1.63 vs. 1.94 mmol/L), alanine transaminase (30.28 vs. 33.12 IU/L), and γ-glutamyl transferase (29.9 vs. 43.68 IU/L), but higher levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.33 vs. 1.26 mmol/L) compared to overweight/obese (OW/O) patients with NAFLD.Conclusion: Prevalence of NAFLD was slightly lower among the L/NO-NAFLD Chinese population than the global level but has obviously increased recently. In addition, the metabolic profile of L/NO-NAFLD patients was generally better compared to OW/O-NAFLD patients.PROSPERO Reg. No.: CRD42022327240