A common liver condition long treated as a single disease may actually be five separate conditions, according to new findings from Mayo Clinic researchers. The discovery suggests that fatty liver disease, which affects nearly 30% of adults worldwide, is more biologically complex than previously understood.
The research identifies five distinct biological subtypes within fatty liver disease, and each subtype appears to carry different risks. This means patients who share the same broad diagnosis may actually have very different underlying disease processes.
The findings could reshape how the condition is studied and treated, since therapies and risk assessments may need to account for subtype-specific biology rather than treating all patients the same way.