Various Risk Factors Associated with Severity of Liver Disease in ALD Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Excessive intake of alcohol becomes a major healthcare issue worldwide with consequences
affecting socially, economically, and clinically and recorded 3.3 million deaths in 2012 (WHO 2014)29.
Heavy drinking over a long period of time damages almost every organ of the body especially liver.
Objective: To assess the various risk factors associated with severity of liver disease in ALD patients
Material and Method: There were 953 total subjects taken for study. They all were drinking alcohol, out of
which 60 were diagnosed as ALD patients and they were further studied for various risk factors responsible
for progression of ALD.
Results: Total 953 males drinking alcohol from minimum five years were studied. Out of the 953 drinkers,
60 were ALD patients (various degree of progression). None of the were taking any medicines since last 2
months. Anti-HCV and HBsAg were negative in all patients. Various risk factors were studied like average
daily alcohol intake, duration of drinking, type of alcohol beverage and drinking habits etc. Daily alcohol
consumption higher than 20gm and minimum for 5 yearsfound to be significant with progression of ALD.It
was also resulted that maximum subjects (38.61%) were drinking hard liquors followed by Beer (30.74%),
Multiple alcohol beverage (20.25%) and wine (10.38%). 87.82% of the total subjects were drinking alcohol
at meal time or with meals and the daily alcohol intake was significantly lower than that of the alcohol
consumed at any time (means with and without meals) (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The analyzed data highlights that ALD is a major and chronic health condition resulting from
various risk factorswhich can be preventable.