Public Health · Vol. 11, No. 1 · 2026 · pp. 348–352 · e-ISSN 2472-3878

Changing Paradigm of Fatty Liver Management

Musarrat Mahtab, Rokshana Begum, Ahmed Lutful Moben, Sheikh Mohammad Noor E Alam, Md. Abdur Rahim, Sakirul Khan, Sheikh Mohammad Fazle Akbar, Mamun Al Mahtab

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17140/phoj.11.01.348 · Published 2026-04-21 · Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 · © 2026 The Author(s)

Also available as PDF (figures and tables appear in the PDF).

Abstract

Metabolically-dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease is a major health concern globally and is on the rise worldwide. It is a form of chronic liver disease with potentials of progression to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. For long, lifestyle modification remained the only effective intervention for the management of this disease. However, the scenario is now gradually changing. Not only newer drugs are showing promise in the management of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, but some have also already been approved by different regulatory bodies. These include semaglutide, resmetirom and saroglitazar. Therefore, a shift in the of paradigm of management of patients presenting to us with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and complications is also gradually becoming visible.

Keywords: Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease; metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis; lifestyle modification; Metabolicdysfunction-associatedfattyliverdisease; metabolicdysfunction-associatedsteatohep- atitis

Conclusion

MASLD/MASHisanongoingnon-communicablepandemicthatalreadyposessignificantthreattohuman healthaswellastothehealthinfrastructureandbudgetglobally.Tilllong,lifestylemodificationremained themainstayoftreatmentofMASLD/MASHintheabsence of any effective pharmacologic intervention. However,althougheffective,lifestylemodificationis associatedwithmultiplechallenges.Withtheadvent ofnewerdrugs,ouremphasisisgraduallyswitchingto ‘combining’drugswithlifestylemodificationinorder tocontainthisglobalhealththreat.

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