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. 2021 Sep 28;9(10):1346. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9101346

Table 1.

Selected prevalence studies of lean and non-obese NAFLD in adult populations.

Study, Year Country Population Sample Size Non-Obese NAFLD * Prevalence
(% of Population)
Lean NAFLD ** Prevalence
(% of Population)
Mode of Diagnosis Overall NAFLD Prevalence (in Population)
Kwon et al., 2012 [10] Korea Hospital-based 29,994 12.6% - USG 20.1%
Younossi et al., 2012 [7] USA NHANES III database
(1988–1991)
11,613 - 3.7% USG 18.8%
Sinn et al., 2012 [9] Korea Non-obese population 5878 27.4% 16% USG -
Xu et al., 2013 [12] China Non-obese population 6905 7.27% - USG -
Feng et al., 2014 [13] China Annual health check-ups 1779 - 7.5% USG 50.5%
Nishioji et al., 2015 [15] Japan Health check-ups 3271 12.6% - USG 24.6%
Wei et al., 2015 [14] Hong Kong Urban general population 911 14.8% - 1H-MRS 28.8%
Ye et al., 2020 [17] Global Global 10,530,308 12.1% 5.1% Mainly USG -
Zou et al., 2020 [19] USA General population 14,365 9.6% 1.3% USG/fatty liver index 32.3%
Lu et al., 2020 [20] Global Global 205,307 - 4.1% Mainly USG -
Kim et al., 2021 [11] Korea General, KNHANES (2008–2010) 4786 - 11% Comprehensive NAFLD score 37.5%
Shi et al., 2020 [18] China Lean/non-obese 55,936 15.7% 10.2% Mainly USG -

* Non-obese is defined as <25 kg/m2 in Asians and <30 kg/m2 in Caucasians. ** Lean is defined as BMI < 23 kg/m2 in Asian populations and <25 kg/m2 in Caucasians. KNHANES: Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. 1H-MRS: proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy; NHANES III: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III; NAFLD: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; USG: ultrasonography.