E-Paper
Obese people consuming liquor at higher risk for chronic liver failure: PGI study
Around 40 of the 100 patients, who get admitted at the hospital with ACLF, die within 30 days of hospitalisation, as per PGIMER data. Since obesity is highly prevalent among adults in Chandigarh, alcohol consumption can prove a major risk to them.
A research by the hepatology department of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has revealed that obese people, who also consume alcohol, have higher chances of getting acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), an abrupt and life-threatening clinical condition in patients with cirrhosis or chronic liver disease.
Around 40 of the 100 patients, who get admitted at the hospital with ACLF, die within 30 days of hospitalisation, as per PGIMER data.
Since obesity is highly prevalent among adults in Chandigarh, alcohol consumption can prove a major risk to them.
The study ‘Impact of metabolic risk factors on the severity and outcome of patients with alcohol-associated acute-on chronic liver failure’ was carried out by hepatology department head Dr Ajay Kumar Duseja and his team, and was published in Liver International journal recently.
Dr Duseja said, “In the study, we enrolled 1,216 patients who were admitted in the hospital with alcohol-related acute-on-chronic liver failure. Of them, as many as 407 patients had metabolic risk factors, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia while the remaining had no risk factor. Of the 407 patients, 15% were obese, 15% had dyslipidemia, 14% had diabetes and 7% patients had hypertension. Then, the severity of infection and mortality among the patients with risk factors were compared to those who were not having any co-morbidity with liver failure.”
“After the comparison, it was concluded that patients with alcohol-associated liver disease, who were obese, were having severe infection as compared to those who had normal weight. Besides, the mortality among the obese people was 1.9 times higher as compared to the patients with normal weight”.
‘Alcohol consumption risky among obese people’
Dr Ajay Duseja added that alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for the obese people as they are more prone of getting chronic liver diseases. “Past studies among Chandigarh residents had revealed that 48% of the residents who had alcohol-related liver diseases were obese.”
As per the Union government’s National Family Health Survey-5, around 18.5% of Chandigarh men above the age of 15 consume alcohol in urban areas, whereas the percentage among those in rural areas is much higher to 31.6%.
The survey had also revealed that in Chandigarh, around 35% of adults (in 15 to 49 years of age) are obese or overweight whereas the percentage among women is much higher to 44%.
