Objective To investigate the clinical value of changing the diagnostic criteria for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolism-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in the risk-stratification and management of cardiovascular disease. Methods A total of 234 patients with fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasound examination were selected from February 2019 to September 2020 in the Gastroenterological Department of the Sixth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital. All the enrolled patients were collected of the anthropological parameters, history of chronic diseases [hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)], liver function, blood lipid, hemoglobin, platelet, blood uric acid, blood urea, bile acid, fasting blood glucose and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis score (NFS). According to the different diagnostic criteria of fatty liver, 157 patients who met the diagnostic criteria of NAFLD were classified as NAFLD group and 213 patients who met the diagnostic criteria of MAFLD were classified as MAFLD group. The MAFLD group was regrouped and compared according to the presence or absence of T2DM and alcohol consumption. Results The proportion of male patients, hypertension, T2DM and the levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and the hemoglobin in the NAFLD group were lower than those in the MAFLD group; and the level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the NAFLD group was higher than that in the MAFLD group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). In the MAFLD group, 75 patients were combined with T2DM and 138 had no T2DM. The proportion of patients with hypertension and the levels of ALT, AST, GGT and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in patients with T2DM were higher than those without T2DM, and the proportion of patients without liver fibrosis (NFS <–1.455) was lower than those without T2DM, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in age, gender and BMI between the two groups (P>0.05). In the MAFLD group, 70 patients were drinkers and 143 non-drinkers. The age of the drinking group was lower than that of the non-drinking group, and the proportion of male, hypertension, T2DM and the levels of BMI, ALT, AST, GGT, pre-albumin, TG, TC, LDL-C, hemoglobin, uric acid and fasting blood glucose in the drinking group were higher than those in the non-drinking group, with statistical significance (P<0.05). Conclusion The diagnostic criteria of MAFLD are easier to identify high-risk population of cardiovascular diseases than those of NAFLD, which is helpful for targeted management.