Prevalence of MASLD in People With Diabetes Has Decreased in the US, but Rates of Liver Fibrosis Are Still on the Rise.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to evaluate recent changes in the prevalence of steatotic liver disease, its subtypes, and liver fibrosis among US adults with and without diabetes between 2017-2020 and 2021-2023.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

In this serial cross-sectional study, we assessed adults aged ≥18 years with complete vibration-controlled transient elastography (Fibroscan®) data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2017-2020 and 2021-2023. Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) was defined as liver steatosis in the presence of 1 cardiometabolic risk factor.

RESULTS

A total of 13 153 adults (n = 7683 from 2017-2020; n = 5470 from 2021-2023) were included. The prevalence of MASLD significantly decreased from 37.6% to 32.5% in this period ( = .001), and this was particularly noticeable among individuals with prediabetes (from 49.1% to 41.8%; = .002) or diabetes (from 69.4% to 61.4%; = .013). Despite the lower prevalence of MASLD, the prevalence of clinically significant fibrosis (≥F2), advanced fibrosis (≥F3), and cirrhosis (F4) significantly increased in this period, especially among individuals with diabetes. Of note, among individuals with diabetes, clinically significant fibrosis reached 27.4% and cirrhosis 10.2% in 2021-2023. Alcohol-related liver disease also increased from 1.0% to 1.7% ( = .037) in the overall population, with similar increases in prediabetes and diabetes.

CONCLUSION

Despite the evidence of a decline in MASLD prevalence, rates of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis are rising, especially in individuals with diabetes. This underscores the need for improved screening of liver fibrosis, early initiation of effective pharmacological therapies, and aggressive management of related cardiometabolic conditions in individuals with diabetes.