Researchers have now
established that alcohol drinking pattern has a significant influence on the
risk of cirrhosis of the liver and that daily drinking increases that risk
compared with drinking less frequently.
"Our study points to a risk difference between drinking daily and drinking
five or six days a week in the general male population.
Since the details of
alcohol induced liver injury are unknown, we can only speculate that the reason
may be that daily alcohol exposure worsens liver damage or inhibits liver
regeneration," said lead investigator Gro Askgaard, from the University of
Southern Denmark, Copenhagen.
Scientists in Denmark investigated the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis among nearly
56,000 participants aged between 50 and 64 in the Danish Cancer, Diet, and
Health study (1993-2011).
Amount of alcohol intake was reported as the average amount per week of
specific types of alcohol: beer, wine, and liquor.
Of the 55,917
participants, 257 men and 85 women developed alcoholic cirrhosis, corresponding
to an incidence rate of 66 in men and 19 in women per 100,000 person-years.
There were no cases of alcoholic cirrhosis among lifetime abstainers.
The results were published in the Journal of Hepatology.
