Mantovani A, Petracca G, Beatrice G, et al. - According to findings of this large and updated meta-analysis, there exists a significant association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with a~1.45-fold increased long-term risk of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage ≥3.

• In studies, a significant link has been shown between NAFLD and elevated risk of CKD.

• In this meta-analysis of relevant observational studies from PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus, the magnitude of the association between NAFLD and risk of incident CKD was quantified.

• This analysis involved 13 studies comprising 1,222,032 individuals (28.1% with NAFLD) and 33,840 cases of incident CKD stage ≥3 over a median follow-up of 9.7 years.

• A moderately increased risk of incident CKD was documented in relation to NAFLD (n=10 studies; random-effects HR 1.43).

• All risks were noted to be independent of age, gender, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other traditional CKD risk factors.