Deaths from liver disease increase among young Americans



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(CNN) – More of 39 Americans, mostly young people, die According to a new study

After adjusting for age and other factors, the study – published Wednesday in the BMJ – revealed that deaths in the United States States due to cirrhosis have increased by 65% ​​and deaths due to cirrhosis of the liver. liver cancer doubled between 1999 and 2016. During this period, deaths related to cirrhosis increased for each ethnic group and for both men and women.

From 2009 to 2016, the highest increase in mortality rate due to cirrhosis was among 25 to 34 years old According to Dr. Elliot Tapper, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan and first author on paper [19659007] Tapper cited an increase in excessive alcohol consumption among youth to explain the increase in mortality related to cirrhosis. To reduce these preventable deaths, he said, steps should be taken such as increasing the price of alcohol and diagnosing cirrhosis using existing blood tests.

He said that he was treating more and more young cirrhotics "

" We were struck by how the current concept of the person who develops cirrhosis does not quite fit with this. that we see, "he said. "It was really striking for us to have people younger than us in our clinic who were dying of cirrhosis."

Cirrhosis, scarring of the liver, occurs when toxins such as alcohol or excess calories invade the liver.

Potentially life-threatening complications can occur as a result of cirrhosis, including fluid accumulation in the stomach, varicose vein formation and the spread of toxins to the brain, causing what the eye can do. we call a hepatic coma. The disease also increases the risk of liver cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer deaths.

The new study examined publicly available data from the United States Vital Statistics Cooperative for the years 1999 to 2016. Overall, researchers found that age-adjusted mortality of cirrhosis was of 12.18 per 100,000 people. From 2008 to 2016, mortality increased by 3.4% annually

The increase in cirrhosis mortality was greater in Kentucky, New Mexico and Arkansas, according to the study.

The researchers compared cirrhosis mortality changes with changes in alcohol consumption disorder. Many of the states that reported increasing rates of alcohol-related cirrhosis also had rising rates of alcohol use disorders, and vice versa. Because their study was observational, however, they could not confirm that the two trends were related.

In addition to its observational nature, Tapper said that a potential limitation of the study came from its use of death records, which were found to be inaccurate about 10% of the time.

Dr. Farhad Islami, the scientific director of research on cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society, said the study's findings reveal an interesting trend between excessive alcohol consumption and rates deaths from cirrhosis in young people. the death rate increased the most among the population among young people, the number of young people dying of cirrhosis was much more modest: in 2016, cirrhosis accounted for 1.4% of deaths between 25 and 34 years of age, according to the report. ;study. Islami said that inaccurate mortality reports for this age group could have inadvertently caused the false appearance of an upward trend.

The study was published a few days after a report from the National Center for Health Statistics of the CDC. % between 2000 and 2016.

"What you feel about our study is not a contradiction of what they do, in fact, it's a confirmation of what's going on." they found, "said Tapper. The two studies together provide a clearer picture of the needs of the patient with cirrhosis, he said: liver cancer screening and intensive treatment to prevent other diseases badociated with cirrhosis. "

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