Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): Screening and Management Across the Care Continuum

Dear Colleagues,

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide and a major contributor to progressive liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver-related morbidity and mortality. MASLD commonly affects individuals with metabolic risk factors such as diabetes and obesity and often progresses silently, remaining underdiagnosed in routine clinical practice. Recent advances in non-invasive screening tools, improved understanding of disease progression, and the emergence of effective therapeutic options highlighted the need for optimized strategies to identify at-risk patients and deliver timely, coordinated care. Addressing these challenges requires an integrated approach spanning primary care, specialty care, and health systems, optimizing the implementation of MASLD guidelines.

We are pleased to invite clinicians and researchers to contribute to this Special Issue, which aims to highlight advances in MASLD screening and management across the full care continuum, from primary care-based risk assessment to specialty care and advanced disease management. The Special Issue’s scope focuses on clinically relevant and observational studies that inform best practices in the diagnosis, risk stratification, and management of MASLD, with approaches that integrate care across primary care, endocrinology, cardiology, and hepatology settings and advance patient outcomes in MASLD.

We welcome original full-length articles, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, and implementation studies. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Screening strategies for MASLD in populations with metabolic risk factors including diabetes and obesity;
• Implementation of non-invasive tools and diagnostic predictors for fibrosis risk stratification and disease monitoring;
• Integrated, multidisciplinary care models for MASLD from primary care, endocrinology, cardiology, and hepatology;
• Referral pathways, care coordination, and health system interventions to improve MASLD diagnosis and treatment;
• Real-world outcomes and implementation studies evaluating MASLD guidelines and care pathways.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Mohsen Merati
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• MASLD
• non-invasive fibrosis assessment
• screening and risk stratification
• primary care management
• integrated care models
• care continuum and referral pathways
• real-world implementation
• metabolic comorbidities