Mortality associated with alcohol-related liver disease

BACKGROUND: Excessive alcohol use has been reported to be responsible for 80 000 annual deaths in the United States. However, the exact cause of death related to the excessive use of alcohol has not been fully explored. AIM: To assess the effect of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) on all-cause, liver-related and cardiovascular mortality using population-based data.

METHODS: Data were obtained from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) Linked Mortality Files. Alcohol consumption was estimated as grams per day. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was utilised to assess the effects of ALD on follow-up time to mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease and liver disease.

RESULTS: A total of 8,306 participants were included [ALD (n = 148)]. Mortality follow-up data were available for a median time of 178.27 months. Participants with ALD had increased risk for liver-related mortality [adjusted hazard ratios or aHR 7.06 (2.09-23.79)], but not for overall mortality [aHR 1.14 (0.70-1.85)] or cardiovascular mortality [aHR 0.61 (0.11-3.25)].

CONCLUSION: Alcoholic liver disease increases the risks for liver-related mortality but not for cardiac or overall mortality.