Alcohol consumption can increase the risk of chronic conditions, but it can significantly raise risk of advanced liver disease for those with belly fat, diabetesor high blood pressurea new study has found.
Researchers from Keck Medicine of USC discovered that drinking alcohol with these health conditions can double the risk of developing advanced liver disease.
This may explain why some people may develop advanced liver disease even with few glasses of alcohol while others do not.
Advanced liver disease, also known as end-stage liver disease, occurs when the liver sustains severe and irreversible damage, often due to chronic conditions like cirrhosis, hepatitis, fatty liver disease, or prolonged alcohol use.
The study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology from Keck Medicine of USC found that heavy drinkers with either diabetes, high blood pressure or a high waist circumference find themselves at 2.4 times more risk of developing severe liver illness.
“The results identify a very high-risk segment of the population prone to liver disease and suggest that preexisting health issues may have a large impact on how alcohol affects the liver,” said Brian P. Lee, MD, MAS, a hepatologist and liver transplant specialist with Keck Medicine and principal investigator of the study.
The above-mentioned health conditions are associated with obesity and are among cardiometabolic risk factors that can raise risk of heart attack and stroke. These risk factors can also lead to buildup of fat in the liver which can in turn cause fibrosis, or scarring of the liver.
According to Lee, these risk factors impact more than one in three Americans, and cardiometabolic health has been declining, particularly among those under 35.
Lee and the other researchers wanted to understand through this study which cardiometabolic risk factors predisposed the liver to damage from alcohol.
For this they analysed data of 40,000 participants from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that looked at the intersection of heavy drinkingindividual cardiometabolic risk factors and the incidences of significant liver fibrosis. Significant liver fibrosis or liver scarring can lead to liver failure.
For the study, heavy drinking was characterized as 1.5 drinks a day for women (20 grams) and two drinks a day for men (30 grams).
What the study found
It was discovered that heavy drinkers with either diabetes or a high waist circumference were 2.4 times more likely to develop advanced liver disease. Those with high blood pressure raised their chance of developing it to 1.8 times. Two other cardiometabolic risk factors – high triglycerides (elevated levels of a type of fat in the blood) and low HDL (high-density lipoprotein or “good” cholesterol) had less significant correlations to liver disease.
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