Liver disease deaths increase among young Americans | AM 740 KVOR



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(CNN) – According to a new study, more and more Americans, especially young people, are dying from cirrhosis-related liver diseases.

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

. According to Dr. Elliot Tapper, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan and first author of the article, the largest increase in mortality rate from cirrhosis was recorded among 25 to 34 years

. young people 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 people for cirrhosis and decided to conduct the study to see if the trend was true at the national level.

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

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

Life-threatening complications can stem from cirrhosis, including fluid accumulation in the stomach, formation of varicose veins and the spread of toxins to the brain, causing what is called a liver 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 Centers for Disease Control's Cooperative of Vital Statistics from 1999 to 2016. Overall, researchers found that mortality adjusted by the United States Age of cirrhosis was 12.18 per 100,000 people. From 2008 to 2016, mortality increased annually by 3.4%.

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

The researchers compared changes in mortality due to alcohol-related cirrhosis of states to their changes in alcohol-related disorders. 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 his observational nature, Tapper said that a potential limitation of the study came from his use of death records, which were found to be inaccurate about 10% of the time.

Dr. Farhad Islami, scientific director of research on cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society, said the study's findings revealed an interesting pattern between excessive alcohol consumption and smoking 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, according to l & # 39; 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 in our study is not a contradiction of what they do, in fact, it is a confirmation of what 's going on. they found, "said Tapper. Both studies provide a clearer picture of the needs of the patient with cirrhosis, he said: liver cancer screening and intensive treatment to prevent other cirrhosis-associated morbidities. "