By:Hatton, J (Hatton, Jennifer); Burton, A (Burton, Andrew); Nash, H (Nash, Harriet); Munn, E (Munn, Emma); Burgoyne, L (Burgoyne, Lesley); Sheron, N (Sheron, Nick)^{[ 1 ]}

To examine the hypothesis that increases in UK liver deaths are a result of episodic or binge drinking as opposed to regular harmful drinking.

A prospective survey of consecutive in-patients and out-patients.

The liver unit of a teaching hospital in the South of England.

A total of 234 consecutive in-patients and out-patients between October 2007 and March 2008.

Face-to-face interviews, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, 7-day drinking diary, Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire, Lifetime Drinking History and liver assessment.

Of the 234 subjects, 106 had alcohol as a major contributing factor (alcoholic liver disease: ALD), 80 of whom had evidence of cirrhosis or progressive fibrosis. Of these subjects, 57 (71%) drank on a daily basis; only 10 subjects (13%) drank on fewer than 4 days of the week-of these, five had stopped drinking recently and four had cut down. In ALD patients two life-time drinking patterns accounted for 82% of subjects, increasing from youth (51%), and a variable drinking pattern (31%). ALD patients had significantly more drinking days and units/drinking day than non-ALD patients from the age of 20 years onwards.

Increases in UK liver deaths are a result of daily or near-daily heavy drinking, not episodic or binge drinking, and this regular drinking pattern is often discernable at an early age.

Author Keywords:Alcohol; binge drinking; cirrhosis; drinking patterns; drinking trajectory; liver disease

KeyWords Plus:BINGE DRINKING; YOUNG ADULTHOOD; USE DISORDERS; TRAJECTORIES; OUTCOMES; PREDICTORS; CIRRHOSIS

Reprint Address: Sheron, N (reprint author)

Univ Southampton, Sch Med, Div Infect Inflammat & Repair, Liver Unit, Mailpoint 811, Southampton SO16 6YD, Hants, England.   Organization-Enhanced Name(s)     University of Southampton

Addresses:

[ 1 ] Univ Southampton, Sch Med, Div Infect Inflammat & Repair, Liver Unit, Southampton SO16 6YD, Hants, England   Organization-Enhanced Name(s)     University of Southampton

E-mail Addresses:nick.sheron@soton.ac.uk

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC, COMMERCE PLACE, 350 MAIN ST, MALDEN 02148, MA USA

Research Areas:Substance Abuse; Psychiatry

Web of Science Categories:Substance Abuse; Psychiatry

Document Type:Article

Language:English

Accession Number: WOS:000264305900010

PubMed ID: 19215600

ISSN: 0965-2140

IDS Number: 420RC

Times Cited in Web of Science Core Collection: 32