Deaths from liver disease increase among young Americans



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Anatomy of the Liver

More Americans, especially young, die from cirrhosis-related liver conditions, according to a new study.

After adjustment for age and other factors, the study – published Wednesday in the BMJ – found that deaths from cirrhosis in the United States increased by 65% ​​and Liver cancer deaths doubled from 1999 to 2016. During this period, deaths related to cirrhosis increased for each ethnic group and for both men and women. From 2009 to 2016, the largest increase in mortality rate due to cirrhosis was among people ages 25 to 34, according to Dr. Elliot Tapper, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan and first author on paper.

-drinking in youth to explain the increase in mortality related to cirrhosis. To reduce these preventable deaths, one must take measures such as increasing the price of alcohol and diagnosing cirrhosis using existing blood tests.

He said that he was treating more and more young cirrhotic and decided to conduct the study.

"We were struck by how the current concept of the person developing cirrhosis does not quite fit what 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 submerge the liver, causing inflammation. scarring

Potentially life-threatening complications can stem from cirrhosis, including fluid accumulation in the stomach, varicose formation and the spread of toxins to the brain, causing what is called a coma of the liver. The disease also increases the risk of liver cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer deaths.

The new study looked at publicly available data from the United States' Centers for Disease Control's Cooperative of Vital Statistics from 1999 to 2016. The researchers found that adjusted for the age of cirrhosis was 12.18 per 100,000 population. From 2008 to 2016, mortality increased by 3.4% annually

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

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: both for liver cancer screening and intensive treatment to prevent other diseases associated with cirrhosis. "

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