Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Since non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was first described in children in the early 1980s by Moran and colleagues, a number of case series have been reported. Awareness of the disease has been growing among healthcare providers in the last few years, and nowadays NAFLD represents the most common cause of chronic liver disease in youth. Its growing prevalence in westernised countries has been attributed to the obesity epidemic. Indeed, NAFLD develops in the setting of obesity, insulin resistance and all the abnormalities that make up the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Thus, even though NAFLD is not part of the current definition of MetS, it can be considered a contributing factor. The association between NAFLD and components of MetS is one of the challenges that healthcare providers have to face when dealing with the disease. Further challenges include making a diagnosis of NAFLD, defining its prevalence, understanding its significance in terms of prognosis of certain histological findings that characterise paediatric NAFLD compared with the form observed in adulthood and, finally, demonstrating the worth of performing biopsies in children with NAFLD.