Lifestyle changes may reduce risk for alcohol related cirrhosis
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Weight loss, intensive treatment of diabetes or prediabetic states and coffee or tea consumption may decrease the risk for alcohol-related cirrhosis, according to a study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
“We identified significant associations between the family history of liver disease; diabetes and obesity; tea, coffee, wine, and cannabis consumption; and risk of cirrhosis,” John B. Whitfield, PhD, FRCPath, from Genetic Epidemiology, QIMRBerghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane and colleagues wrote. “Our findings may have public health consequences if the causal relationships can be confirmed; measures such as weight loss, intensive treatment of diabetes or prediabetic states, and encouragement of coffee consumption may be useful lifestyle interventions to reduce the risk of alcohol-related cirrhosis.”
Weight loss, intensive treatment of diabetes or prediabetic states and coffee or tea consumption may decrease the risk for alcohol-related cirrhosis.
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Whitfield and colleagues conducted a multicenter case-control study that compared 1,293 patients with alcohol related cirrhosis from the GenomALC study with 754 controls with similar alcohol exposure but with no evidence of liver disease. Through clinical records and interview, information which confirmed or excluded cirrhosis, alcohol intake and other potential factors.
“Case-control differences in risk factors discovered in the GenomALC participants were validated using similar data from 407 cases and 6,573 controls from UK Biobank,” Whitfield and colleagues wrote.
The case group had a higher prevalence of diabetes (20.5% [262/1,288] vs 6.5% [48/734]; P = 2.27 × 1018) and a higher premorbid BMI (26.37 ± 0.16 kg/m2) compared with controls (24.44 ± 0.18 kg/m2; P = 5.77 × 1015). Controls were also more likely to be wine drinkers, coffee drinkers and cannabis users. Investigators reported cases had a higher proportion of patients who died of liver disease (OR = 2.25; 95% CI, 1.55–3.26).
“Data from UK Biobank confirmed these findings for diabetes, body mass index, proportion of alcohol as wine, and coffee consumption,” the researchers wrote.