Alcohol related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) has also seen a big rise since 2017.
Alcohol consumption may affect heart, liver, and brain of a person (Photo credit: Pexels)
New Delhi: There is a 40% spike in 2023 compared to 21% in 2017 in the incidence of liver failure or cancer due to alcohol abuse as a reason for liver transplant, reveals an analysis by a team of doctors at the Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine.
The shocking fact was brought out during an internal analysis of 4,000 liver transplants between 2004 and 2023 by a team led by Dr Arvinder Soin, Chairman and Chief Surgeon at the Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine.
As many as 78% of the patients out of 4,000 are from India and rest (22%), foreigners who came to Medanta for liver transplants.
“An analysis done in 2017 from the database had revealed that in 21% cases, the main cause for liver transplants was the liver failure due to alcohol consumption. A similar analysis done this year has shown that it is 40% now,” Dr Soin told News9 Plus.
The risks and harms associated with drinking alcohol have been systematically evaluated over the years and well documented. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) on January 4, 2023 published a statement in The Lancet Public Health: “When it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health.”
Asked if the pandemic induced lock-down had increased alcohol consumption of the people, Dr Soin said it is “possible” but asserted that there is “no way to prove it scientifically. That is my impression that since the last three years, there has been a general rise in incidence of alcohol related liver diseases.”
But, it is for sure that there has been an increase in “alcohol related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF),” he added.
The National Family Health Survey-5 of 2021 had said 9.91% of Indians (over the age of 15) consume alcohol. Arunachal Pradesh (38.42%), Telangana (24.61%) and Goa (20.94%) were the top three consumers among states.
A March 2022 study on ‘Epidemiology of Liver Diseases in India’ acknowledged that liver diseases are fast being recognised as public health priorities in India and pointed out that the burden of liver diseases in India is significant “because it alone contributed to 18.3% of the two million global liver disease–related deaths in 2015.”
The WHO describes alcohol as a “toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance”. According to the WHO, it has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago. Group 1 is the highest risk group. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer.
In India, despite the inherent limitations in the quality of the available epidemiological data resources, “there is a fair body of evidence available that suggests the increasing impact of liver diseases on the country’s economy and health care resources, apart from being a cause of premature death and disability,” the WHO had said.
It blamed the “cultural–lifestyle transition” that India is passing through currently with progressive adoption of a western diet, sedentary habits, along with “an aura of freedom from long‐held taboos around alcohol in the society”, which have created grounds for a spectrum of liver diseases in India that shows signs of a rapid switch.
(This story first appeared on news9live.com on Jun 15, 2023 and can be read here.)
