Inpatient Stays Related to Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, 2016-2022 HCUP Statistical Brief #317 | February 2026 Marc Roemer, M.S. and Lan Liang, Ph.D.

https://hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb317-inpatient-stays-NAFLD-2016-2022.pdf Data collected through AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) has found an 88.1 percent increase in the number of inpatient stays with a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) diagnosis from 2016 to 2022. A new statistical brief, "Inpatient Stays Related to Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, 2016-2022," identifies how NAFLD co-occurred among other diagnoses, and the subpopulations most impacted. NAFLD was most frequently a secondary diagnosis and NAFLD-diagnosed patients were more likely to have comorbidities than other patients. The brief also highlights the most common principal diagnoses associated with these stays and provides additional details on affected patients. https://hcup-us.ahrq.gov/