Latest news with #AlcoholRelatedLiverDisease
The Independent
6 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Alcohol use has increased among women — and so have cases of liver disease
Alcohol-related liver disease has more than doubled in the U.S. over the last 20 years. The increase is tied to four groups that make up a greater share of heavy drinkers than they did two decades ago: Women, adults ages 45 and older, people living in poverty, and those with metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome refers to a number of conditions, including high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Exactly why these groups are drinking more remains unclear. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Dr. Peter Martin previously told NBC News that 'it's become more and more socially acceptable for women to drink as much as men' and George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told The New York Times that he believed older Americans are even less 'likely' to understand the hazards of alcohol. 'Alcohol-related liver disease is the main cause of liver-related death and these results are a major wakeup call to the dangers of drinking,' researcher Dr. Brian Lee, a hepatologist and liver transplant specialist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, said in a statement after the new study published Wednesday. The findings, Lee said, provide the first comprehensive look at the demographics of heavy drinking and their relation to liver disease since the 1990s. Because the average drinking rate in the U.S. was unchanged over the last 20 years - outside of the pandemic - it suggested factors such as changing health and demographics may be playing a role. The researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of adults and children in the U.S. from 1999 through 2020. They tracked the total increase in significant liver disease, a point when scar tissue impairs the organ's function, often caused by heavy drinking. More than 51,600 adults died from liver disease in 2020 in the U.S. The researchers looked at the demographic and health profiles of adults, age 20 or older, who drank heavily - eight drinks per week for women and 15 for men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous research had tied the four groups looked at in this study to a higher risk of liver disease when exposed to alcohol. A separate 2024 study, authored by Lee, found that heavy drinking rose at the pandemic's peak and continued for two years after that. Lee hypothesized that increase may have been due to stress. Liver disease deaths have also roughly doubled over the last 20 years, and the number of annual alcohol deaths due to cancer has doubled in the same time period. Lee believes the results will help to provide doctors with necessary updates to better treat patients and potentially result in more screenings and interventions for Americans in high-risk populations. 'Our results show that the makeup of the American public with heavy alcohol consumption has changed compared to 20 years ago,' he said.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Alcohol-related liver disease rates are increasing in the US
Alcohol -related liver disease has more than doubled in the United States over the past two decades. This increase is predominantly linked to a rise in heavy drinking among four specific groups: women, adults aged 45 and over, individuals living in poverty, and those with metabolic syndrome. Researchers highlight that while the overall average drinking rate in the US has remained unchanged, demographic and health shifts are contributing factors to the surge in liver disease. The study, which analyzed data from 1999 to 2020, offers the first comprehensive look at the changing demographics of heavy drinking and its connection to liver damage since the 1990s. Experts anticipate these findings will assist healthcare professionals in better identifying and treating high-risk populations, potentially leading to more targeted screenings and interventions.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Alcohol-related liver disease in the US has more than doubled in the last 20 years - and its down to four groups
Alcohol-related liver disease has more than doubled in the U.S. over the last 20 years. The increase is tied to four groups that make up a greater share of heavy drinkers than they did two decades ago: Women, adults ages 45 and older, people living in poverty, and those with metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome refers to a number of conditions, including high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Exactly why these groups are drinking more remains unclear. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Dr. Peter Martin previously told NBC News that 'it's become more and more socially acceptable for women to drink as much as men' and George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told The New York Times that he believed older Americans are even less 'likely' to understand the hazards of alcohol. 'Alcohol-related liver disease is the main cause of liver-related death and these results are a major wakeup call to the dangers of drinking,' researcher Dr. Brian Lee, a hepatologist and liver transplant specialist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, said in a statement after the new study published Wednesday. The findings, Lee said, provide the first comprehensive look at the demographics of heavy drinking and their relation to liver disease since the 1990s. Because the average drinking rate in the U.S. was unchanged over the last 20 years - outside of the pandemic - it suggested factors such as changing health and demographics may be playing a role. The researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of adults and children in the U.S. from 1999 through 2020. They tracked the total increase in significant liver disease, a point when scar tissue impairs the organ's function, often caused by heavy drinking. More than 51,600 adults died from liver disease in 2020 in the U.S. The researchers looked at the demographic and health profiles of adults, age 20 or older, who drank heavily - eight drinks per week for women and 15 for men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous research had tied the four groups looked at in this study to a higher risk of liver disease when exposed to alcohol. A separate 2024 study, authored by Lee, found that heavy drinking rose at the pandemic's peak and continued for two years after that. Lee hypothesized that increase may have been due to stress. Liver disease deaths have also roughly doubled over the last 20 years, and the number of annual alcohol deaths due to cancer has doubled in the same time period. Lee believes the results will help to provide doctors with necessary updates to better treat patients and potentially result in more screenings and interventions for Americans in high-risk populations. 'Our results show that the makeup of the American public with heavy alcohol consumption has changed compared to 20 years ago,' he said.
Medscape
11-07-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Steatotic Liver Disease Prevalent in At-Risk Adults
TOPLINE: Steatotic liver disease (SLD) was highly prevalent among adults with cardiometabolic risk factors, prolonged alcohol intake, or both combined and affected 70% of participants overall. Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) showed the highest prevalence of elevated liver stiffness, affecting 25% of participants. METHODOLOGY: Researchers conducted a prospective study in Denmark to identify the prevalence, fibrosis severity, and determinants of SLD in 3123 participants (median age, 57 years; 50% women) enrolled through electronic invitations between October 2017 and November 2022; 98% of them had at least one cardiometabolic risk factor. They categorised participants into the following two groups on the basis of the type of risk factors they had: Metabolic cohort: defined as having a BMI > 30 and/or type 2 diabetes without a history of prolonged high alcohol intake (n = 1599) Alcohol cohort: defined as having ongoing or prior prolonged high alcohol intake, as defined by an average daily intake exceeding 24 g for women and 36 g for men for more than 5 years, regardless of cardiometabolic risk factors (n = 1524). Liver steatosis was diagnosed using the controlled attenuation parameter, and liver fibrosis was diagnosed using liver stiffness measurements (LSMs). In participants with LSM values ≥ 8 kPa at baseline, fibrosis stage and steatosis were evaluated through liver histology. Three SLD subgroups were defined as those with metabolic dysfunction-associated SLD (MASLD; presence of liver steatosis, at least one cardiometabolic risk factor, and low alcohol intake), metabolic and ALD (MetALD; presence of liver steatosis, at least one cardiometabolic risk factor, and moderate alcohol intake), and ALD (high alcohol intake in those without cardiometabolic risk factors or very heavy intake regardless of the cardiometabolic risk). TAKEAWAY: Overall, 70% of participants had SLD, of whom 51% had MASLD, 13% had MetALD, and 6.3% had ALD. More participants in the metabolic cohort than in the alcohol cohort had SLD. Participants with ALD demonstrated the highest disease severity, with 25% vs 12% of those in MASLD and MetALD groups showing LSM values ≥ 8 kPa, and 8% of participants in the ALD group vs 2.8% and 2.6% of those in MASLD and MetALD groups, respectively, had advanced fibrosis. All cardiometabolic risk factors increased the odds of liver steatosis, with high waist circumference emerging as the strongest risk factor (odds ratio, 6.65; 95% CI, 5.36-8.25), and two risk alleles were identified as significant genetic determinants. Higher levels of education and increased physical activity were associated with decreased odds of liver steatosis, and insulin resistance emerged as the most prominent risk factor for elevated liver stiffness. IN PRACTICE: "Social determinants of health, genetic risk, and lifestyle factors further influence the prevalence of SLD, calling for nuanced management in primary care, particularly in addressing health inequality through preventive care initiatives," the authors of the study wrote. SOURCE: This study was led by Camilla Dalby Hansen, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark. It was published online on July 04, 2025, in the Journal of Hepatology. LIMITATIONS: Electronic invitation-based recruitment likely introduced selection bias and may not represent the general population. The single-centre design and predominantly White participant population limited the generalisability to other ethnic and cultural groups. Prognostic differences among SLD subclasses could not be detected due to the lack of long-term follow-up. DISCLOSURES: This study received funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to the DECIDE project and MicrobLiver, the European Union's Horizon 2020 to GALAXY and LiverScreen projects, University of Southern Denmark, Region of Southern Denmark, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and AstraZeneca. Some authors reported receiving speaker/consultation fees and research support and being board/advisory board members of various pharmaceutical companies. Two authors reported being co-founders of Evido. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
