The Growing Challenge of Advanced Liver Disease Due to Alcohol Use in the United States

Abstract

Through detailed analyses of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, and the United Network for Organ Sharing registry, the authors provide a view of the epidemiology of the spectrum of alcohol liver disease (ALD) in the United States. Although the prevalence of ALD among the general population has been relatively stable at 8%, over the last decade, there has been an increase in ALD with advanced fibrosis, including increased hospitalizations for liver cirrhosis and its complications, and an increase in ALD as a cause for liver transplant listing, as well as a greater proportion of liver cancer cases associated with ALD.