by Alcohol -related liver diseases have more than doubled in the United States in the past 20 years.
The increase is bound to four groups that make up a larger proportion of strong drinkers than two decades ago: women, adults from the age of 45, people, people in poverty and people with metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome refers to a number of diseases, including high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, which increase the risk of heart diseases, stroke and type -2 diabetes.
Exactly why these groups drink more remains unclear. Dr. Peter Martin from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine previously said NBC News that “it has become more and more socially acceptable for women to drink as well as men” and George Koob, director of the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism The New York Times That he believed that older Americans understand even less “probably” the dangers of alcohol.
“Alcohol -related liver diseases are the main cause of the death of liver and these results are an essential alarm disease for the dangers of drinking,” said researcher Dr. Brian Lee, hepatologist and liver transplant specialist at the Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, in a statement after the new study was published on Wednesday.
The results, Lee said, provide the first comprehensive view of the demography of strong alcohol consumption and its relationship with liver diseases since the 1990s.
Because the average drinking rate in the USA in the past 20 years – outside of pandemic – remained unchanged, she suggested that factors such as change in health and demographic characteristics could play a role.
From 1999 to 2020, the researchers analyzed data from the national survey on health and nutritional examination among adults and children in the USA.
They pursued the overall increase in significant liver disease, a point at which scar tissue affects the function of the organ, which is often caused by strong drinking. More than 51,600 adults died of liver diseases in the USA in 2020
The researchers examined the demographic and health profiles of adults, the 20 years or older who drank strongly – eight drinks per week for women and 15 for men, according to the centers for the control and prevention of diseases. The four groups examined in this study had bound earlier examinations at a higher risk of liver diseases with alcohol.
A separate study in 2024, which was written by Lee, found that strong drinking events rose at the pandemic summit and then lasted for two years. Lee put up the hypothesis that an increase may be due to stress.
The deaths of liver diseases have also doubled in the past 20 years, and the number of annual alcohol deaths due to cancer has doubled in the same period.
LEE is of the opinion that the results will help to offer doctors the necessary updates for better treatment of patients and possibly more screenings and interventions for Americans in populations with high risk.
“Our results show that the composition of the American public has changed with strong alcohol consumption compared to 20 years,” he said.
