Table 1.

Epidemiological and pathological differences between NAFLD and NASH, and their respective minimum weight loss goals in dietary treatment [13,14].

	NAFLD	NASH
Overall prevalence (estimated in general population)	25%	3–5% (7–30% of NAFLD patients)
Pathology	(a) Steatosis alone (b) Steatosis with lobular or portal inflammation, without ballooning (c) Steatosis with ballooning but without inflammation	Steatosis, ballooning, and lobular inflammation
Fibrosis progression	1 stage of progression over 14 years	1 stage of progression over 7 years
Liver cirrhosis 10–20-year time	2–3%	15–20%
HCC incidence rate	0.44 per 1000 person years	5.29 per 1000 person years
Liver-specific mortality incidence rate	0.77 per 1000 person years	11.77 per 1000 person years
Overall mortality incidence rate	15.44 per 1000 person years	25.56 per 1000 person years
Pharmacological treatment	Non approved	Non approved
Weight loss goal in dietary treatment	3–5% of weight loss	7–10% of weight loss

Abbreviations: NAFLD: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH: non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma.