The burden of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in the Asia Pacific region

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is closely associated with diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome and leads to considerable vascular and liverrelated burden of disease. Whilst regarded as a sequelae of the modern Western sedentary, food-rich lifestyle, NAFLD was actually noted in Japan nearly 50 years ago and its epidemiology, associated with affluence and increased food consumption, are well-documented. In fact, Asian populations appear to have an increased susceptibility to NAFLD, partly owing to visceral adipose body composition differences and changing cultural effects. Whilst the focus in the region has been on tackling chronic viral hepatitis, following the obesity and diabetes pandemics that have developed more recently in Asia, the burden of present and future NAFLD disease are increasingly being recognised. NAFLD community prevalence figures range between 5 and 45 %, with marked variation between Asia Pacific populations. NAFLD is also associated with increased rates of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cirrhotic complications and hepatocellular cancer (particularly in those with chronic viral hepatitis) in the Asia Pacific region. Therefore, increased efforts to diagnose those with NAFLD early and reliable pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies to treat it are required. At a larger scale, efforts to curb excessive food consumption, encourage exercise and prevent insulin resistance are needed to tackle NAFLD and associated outcomes in the Asia Pacific region. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015.