• Arun J Sanyal, Mark L Van Natta, Jeanne Clark, Brent A Neuschwander-Tetri, AnnaMae Diehl, Srinivasan Dasarathy, Rohit Loomba, Naga Chalasani, Kris Kowdley, Bilal Hameed, Laura A Wilson, Katherine P Yates, Patricia Belt, Mariana Lazo, David E Kleiner, Cynthia Behling, James Tonascia, and NASH Clinical Research Network (CRN).
• From the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond (A.J.S.); the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (M.L.V.N., J.C., L.A.W., K.P.Y., P.B., M.L., J.T.), and the Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda (D.E.K.) - both in Maryland; Saint Louis University, St. Louis (B.A.N.-T.); Duke University, Durham, NC (A.M.D.); Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland (S.D.); the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla (R.L., C.B.), and the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco (B.H.); Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis (N.C.); and the Liver Institute Northwest, Seattle (K.K.).
• N. Engl. J. Med. 2021 Oct 21; 385 (17): 155915691559-1569.

BackgroundThe prognoses with respect to mortality and hepatic and nonhepatic outcomes across the histologic spectrum of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are not well defined.MethodsWe prospectively followed a multicenter patient population that included the full histologic spectrum of NAFLD. The incidences of death and other outcomes were compared across baseline histologic characteristics.ResultsA total of 1773 adults with NAFLD were followed for a median of 4 years. All-cause mortality increased with increasing fibrosis stages (0.32 deaths per 100 person-years for stage F0 to F2 [no, mild, or moderate fibrosis], 0.89 deaths per 100 persons-years for stage F3 [bridging fibrosis], and 1.76 deaths per 100 person-years for stage F4 [cirrhosis]). The incidence of liver-related complications per 100 person-years increased with fibrosis stage (F0 to F2 vs. F3 vs. F4) as follows: variceal hemorrhage (0.00 vs. 0.06 vs. 0.70), ascites (0.04 vs. 0.52 vs. 1.20), encephalopathy (0.02 vs. 0.75 vs. 2.39), and hepatocellular cancer (0.04 vs. 0.34 vs. 0.14). As compared with patients with stage F0 to F2 fibrosis, patients with stage F4 fibrosis also had a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes (7.53 vs. 4.45 events per 100 person-years) and a decrease of more than 40% in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (2.98 vs. 0.97 events per 100 person-years). The incidence of cardiac events and nonhepatic cancers were similar across fibrosis stages. After adjustment for age, sex, race, diabetes status, and baseline histologic severity, the incidence of any hepatic decompensation event (variceal hemorrhage, ascites, or encephalopathy) was associated with increased all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 6.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.2 to 21.3).ConclusionsIn this prospective study involving patients with NAFLD, fibrosis stages F3 and F4 were associated with increased risks of liver-related complications and death. (Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and others; NAFLD DB2 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01030484.).Copyright © 2021 Massachusetts Medical Society.

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