Review Article

Mechanisms and Implications of Age-Related Changes in the Liver: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the Elderly

Table 1

Disease progression in NAFLD/NASH and risk factors predicting disease progression [5356].

Powell et al. 1990 [53]Harrison et al. 2003 [54]Fassio et al. 2004 [55]Adams et al. 2005 [56]

Number of patients with serial liver biopsy132222103
Age (years)49 (16–70)50.6 (33–64)45 (20–69)45 (19–65)
Biopsy interval (years)1–9N/A1–30.7–21
Follow-up period (years)1.5–21.51.4–15.73–14.3N/A
Disease activity (%)
 Unchanged46%50%68%34%
 Progress30%32%31.8%37%
 Regress23%18%0%29%
Risk factors associated with NASH progressionNone identifiedASTObesityObesity
BMIBMI
Low initial fibrosis score

N/A: not available; AST: aspartate transaminase.