Millions unknowingly suffer from advanced fatty liver disease, with diagnosis rates dangerously low across the US and Europe.
United States: Many people across the US, UK, Germany, and France do not realize they have very advanced fatty liver disease, as research has shown.
Metaorgan dysfunction steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which is another name for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, appears in people who do not or only slightly drink alcohol and have more than 5% fat in their liver.
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About two out of three people with type 2 diabetes also have the condition, which goes together with obesity and illnesses of the heart and blood vessels.
Five percent of adults across the globe suffer from the most lethal kind of MASLD.
Fibrosis (scarring) in the liver and an increased risk of cirrhosis occur in MASH, and it is also linked to the rise of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and liver cancer, the Guardian reported.
🚨 Did you know?
— European Liver Patients' Association (@EuropeLiver) June 4, 2025
Most people living with MASLD (*Metabolic dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease*) and MASH (*Metabolic dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis) don’t even know it.
⚠️ This silent epidemic is one of the leading causes of liver cancer and cirrhosis — yet… pic.twitter.com/bZNZIEiCcT
Most people are unaware that they have the condition. The researchers tested America, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to find out how prevalent and easy or difficult it is to diagnose aggressive fatty liver disease there.
Only 4% of the US population and slightly less than 3% of the population in the UK, France, and Germany were believed to have the condition, while diagnosis was not happening as frequently as it might have been.
So, about 20 million people living in the US, UK, Germany, and France receive mental health support, but only about 2.5 million have been officially diagnosed.
The report found in the Lancet Regional Health Europe and delivered at the conference for steatotic liver disease in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday recommends doubling the number of cases detected in 2022.
Usually, doctors diagnose MASH with a biopsy, but now they rely on blood tests, ultrasound, and MRI scans, the Guardian reported.
According to Dr Jeffrey Lazarus, who is the lead author of the paper and a professor of global health in New York and Barcelona, “Undiagnosed MASH costs economies billions of pounds in lost productivity and poor health. Unless diagnosis rates are doubled, alongside similar increases in treatment and care, direct health costs alone are predicted to triple over the next 20 years.”