The diagnosis and management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Practice guidance from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (2017)

Potential conflict of interest: Dr. Chalasani consults for and received grants from Eli Lilly. He consults for NuSirt, AbbVie, Afimmune, Tobira, Madrigal, Shire, Cempra, Ardelyx, Axovant, and Amarin. He received grants from Intercept, Gilead, Galectin, and Cumberland. Dr. Younossi consults for Bristol‐Myers Squibb, Gilead, Intercept, Allergan, and GlaxoSmithKline. He advises for Vertex and Janssen. Dr. Brunt advises for Gilead. Dr. Charlton consults for and received grants from Gilead, Intercept, NGM Bio, Genfit, and Novartis. He received grants from Conatus. Dr. Cusi consults for and received grants from Novo Nordisk. He consults for Tobira. He received grants from Cirius, Novartis, Janssen, Zydus, Nordic, and Lilly. Dr. Rinella consults for Intercept, Gilead, Genfit, Novartis, NGM Bio, and Nusirt. She advises for Fibrogen, Immuron, Enanta, and AbbVie. Dr. Harrison consults for Madrigal, NGM Bio, Genfit, Echosens, Prometheus, Cirius, Perspectum, and HistoIndex. He advises for Garland, Intercept, Novartis, and Pfizer. He is on the speakers' bureau for AbbVie, Gilead, and Alexion. Dr. Sanyal consults for and received grants from Salix, Conatus, Galectin, Gilead, malinckrodt, Echosens‐Sandhill, Novartis, and Sequana. He consults for and is employed by Sanyal Bio. He consults for and owns stock in GenFit, Hemoshear, Durect, and Indalo. He consults for Immuron, Intercept, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingleheim, Nimbus, Nitto Denko, Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Fractyl, Allergan, Chemomab, Affimmune, Teva, and Ardelyx. He received grants from Bristol‐Myers Squibb and Merck. He received royalties from UptoDate. He owns stock in Exhalenz, Arkana, and NewCo LLC. The funding for the development of this Practice Guidance was provided by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. This practice guidance was approved by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases on June 15, 2017. Preamble This guidance provides a data‐supported approach to the diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive aspects of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) care. A “Guidance” document is different from a “Guideline.” Guidelines are developed by a multidisciplinary panel of experts and rate the quality (level) of the evidence and the strength of each recommendation using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment Development, and Evaluation system. A guidance document is developed by a panel of experts in the topic, and guidance statements, not recommendations, are put forward to help clinicians understand and implement the most recent evidence. This Practice Guidance was commissioned by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and is an update to the Practice Guideline published in 2012 in conjunction with the American Gastroenterology Association and the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG).1 Sections where there have been no notable newer publications are not modified, so some paragraphs remain unchanged. This narrative review and guidance statements are based on the following: (1) a formal review and analysis of the recently published world literature on the topic (Medline search up to August 2016); (2) the American College of Physicians' Manual for Assessing Health Practices and Designing Practice Guidelines2; (3) guideline policies of the AASLD; and (4) the experience of the authors and independent reviewers with regard to NAFLD. This practice guidance is intended for use by physicians and other health professionals. As clinically appropriate, guidance statements should be tailored for individual patients. Specific guidance statements are evidence based whenever possible, and, when such evidence is not available or is inconsistent, guidance statements are made based on the consensus opinion of the authors.3 This is a practice guidance for clinicians rather than a review article, and interested readers can refer to several recent comprehensive reviews.4 Because this guidance document is lengthy, to make it easier for the reader, a list of all guidance statements and recommendations are provided in a tabular form as Supporting Table S1. there be (1) evidence of by or and (2) of of such as use of a or the of is with such as and can be nonalcoholic fatty liver or nonalcoholic Table is as the of evidence of in the form of is as the of and with with or this guidance document be to or or Table of fatty liver of of Table and the of in from fatty liver to to of evidence of in the form of of the or evidence of The of to and liver is of with and with or This can to liver and liver of with or evidence of or of with no with are with such as and of and is a to in liver in with in is A of and and of in the is a of the of in the A have of from are a for of by was a of for of by was the of using and was to be a of for an of of developed by to an rate of The for in the of are A from using of an rate for of the of such as this most the of A from an rate of A recent the of from to be the rate from the is to be to the there is a of publications the of in the are in a recent of the of The the of by is The of is from the and the rate is from As the for a liver liver is not in of the there is no of the or of there have been some to the of by The the of in the are in the The of liver for a is to be The of liver a for is from to the of in the and of in of are not in with of the of This and of been this Table provides a list of the and and and independent of are with and is the most and for NAFLD. the of from to and is with NAFLD. this the of with have is a of in with some have to of have is to the of and this and can in a the of in with or the of in with NAFLD. this and and are in with NAFLD. The of in with been to be a a the based on to and to The rate of was the rate for with the to and to was the rate in the with the was and The of to and the of and of liver disease to with Table Association of the of or of the (1) than in or than in (2) or (3) than in and than in (4) or or or and or been a for NAFLD. the of in is than in The of and on have the to have a of have a of the of and to be to be is most of the recent the for be by the to the the of the from to and of the have the of with is evidence with with some of are for such as and have the following: with have to The most of in with is disease independent of other is the of in the it is the or of with is the of in with with have an a recent and and to be and and and The for and for to be and The most of with is to or are of is the of in the to the of with the the of the of been to a with are have a have and are to from liver than other of from a of from the not have other was with in the of This of in is to most with have is This of with have a of and with the with or in the of in of the for liver disease is of the recent in with a rate of the of in to with a rate of and in with as to with a recent of with and a of an of rate not different from with This is with of with with or liver is as the of and as the of in the as are with As of liver disease is the development of The rate was to be of with of the to to liver to and to it is the for in is the of with the and of the of evidence for or recent of of the of in with is A consensus for be as in and in a liver to the on and a is of the of in published literature been Guidance or recent on in and on in is a for when with NAFLD. 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