Estudios científicos

Alcohol drinking pattern and risk of alcoholic liver cirrhosis: A prospective cohort study

Abstract:

 BACKGROUND & AIMS: Alcohol is the main contributing factor of alcoholic cirrhosis, but less is known about the significance of drinking pattern.
METHODS: We investigated the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis among 55,917 participants (aged 50-64 years) in the Danish Cancer, Diet, and Health study (1993-2011). Baseline information on alcohol intake, drinking pattern, and confounders was obtained from a questionnaire. Follow-up information came from national registers. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for alcoholic cirrhosis in relation to drinking frequency, lifetime alcohol amount, and beverage type.
RESULTS: We observed 257 and 85 incident cases of alcoholic cirrhosis among men and women, respectively, none among lifetime abstainers. In men, HR for alcoholic cirrhosis among daily drinkers was 3.65 (95% CI: 2.39; 5.55) compared to drinking 2-4 days/week. Alcohol amount in recent age periods (40-49 and 50-59 years) was associated with an increased risk, whereas the amount in 20-29 and 30-39 years was not. In men drinking14-28 drinks/week, HR was 7.47 (95% CI: 1.68; 33.12), 3.12 (95% CI: 1.53; 6.39), and 1.69 (95% CI: 0.79; 3.65) in drinkers of little (<1% of weekly amount), some (1-15%), and mostly wine (50-100%), compared to drinking <14 drinks/week. In general, results were similar for women.
CONCLUSIONS: In men, daily drinking was associated with an increased risk of alcoholic cirrhosis. Recent alcohol consumption rather than earlier in life was associated with risk of alcoholic cirrhosis. Compared to beer and liquor, wine might be associated with a lower risk of alcoholic cirrhosis.

Comentarios divulgativos:

El riesgo de cirrosis alcohólica se investigó con participantes entre las edades de 50 a 64 años en Danish Cancer, Diet and Healthy study que se llevó a cabo desde el año 1993 hasta el 2011. Se utilizaró un cuestionario para obtener la información como el consumo de alcohol, el consumo de los patrones de consumo y el tipo de bebida, entre otros. En los hombres, la bebida diaria se asoció con un mayor riesgo de sufrir cirrosis alcohólica. Sin embargo, cuando se toma en cuenta el tipo de bebida, el vino parece estar asociado con un menor riesgo de cirrosis alcohólica. 

 The risk of alcoholic cirrhosis was investigated among participants between the ages of 50 to 64 years in the Danish Cancer, Diet and Health study that was undertaken from 1993 to 2011, using a questionnaire to obtain information such as alcohol intake, drinking patterns and beverage type, among others. In men, daily drinking was associated with an increased risk of suffering alcohol cirrhosis. However, when taking into account beverage type, wine seems to be associated with a lower risk of alcoholic cirrhosis.