Do all alcoholics get alcoholic hepatitis and eventually cirrhosis? No. Some alcoholics may suffer seriously from the many physical and psychological symptoms of alcoholism, but escape serious liver damage. Alcoholic cirrhosis is found among alcoholics about 10 to 25 percent of the time.
Heavy drinkers and alcoholics may progress from fatty liver to alcoholic hepatitis to cirrhosis, and it is estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of alcoholics will develop cirrhosis.
Alcoholic liver disease occurs after years of heavy drinking. Over time, scarring and cirrhosis can occur. Cirrhosis is the final phase of alcoholic liver disease. Alcoholic liver disease does not occur in all heavy drinkers.
"We still do not understand why only a proportion of moderate to heavy drinkers get liver cirrhosis," said Dr Seth. "Nothing so far has been able to explain the unpredictability of why some people get cirrhosis and others who drink equal amounts don't."
This can lead to liver failure. Usually the damage cannot be reversed. Between 10 to 20 percent of heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis typically after 10 or more years of drinking.
Who gets it? Any kind of disease or condition that harms the liver can lead to cirrhosis over time. About 2% of American adults have liver disease, and therefore are at risk of developing cirrhosis. However, those who drink too much alcohol, those who are overweight and those with viral hepatitis are at a greater risk.
Up to 35 percent develop alcoholic hepatitis and between 10 and 20 percent develop cirrhosis. Alcohol-related cirrhosis is the most serious form of alcohol-related liver disease. The damage from alcohol-related cirrhosis is not reversible and can cause fatal liver failure.
No. Some alcoholics may suffer seriously from the many physical and psychological symptoms of alcoholism, but escape serious liver damage.
Alcohol consumed during just seven weeks of intermittent binge drinking harms the liver in ways that more moderate daily drinking does not, according to researchers at UC San Francisco. The scientists discovered that just 21 binge drinking sessions in mice were enough to cause symptoms of early-stage liver disease.
The risk for incidence of liver cirrhosis for former drinkers in comparison to long-term abstainers was three-fold. With any alcohol consumption, the risk for liver cirrhosis increased exponentially among women; among men, the risk increased beyond consumption of 1 drink or more per day.
Depending on the cause, cirrhosis can develop over months or years. There is no cure. Treatment aims to halt liver damage, manage the symptoms and reduce the risk of complications, such as diabetes, osteoporosis (brittle bones), liver cancer and liver failure.
Patients with compensated cirrhosis have a median survival that may extend beyond 12 years. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis have a worse prognosis than do those with compensated cirrhosis; the average survival without transplantation is approximately two years [13,14].
So what happens when you stop drinking? The good news is that the liver is the only organ that can restore and regenerate itself. Because the liver is in a constant state of regeneration, in many cases the healing process can begin within just weeks after foregoing alcohol.
Having 2 to 3 alcoholic drinks every day or binge drinking can harm your liver. Binge drinking is when you drink more than 4 or 5 drinks in a row. If you already have a liver disease, you should stop drinking alcohol. There is no safe amount of alcohol for people with any type of alcoholic liver disease.
“The scary thing is that they're only in their 30s and 40s,” he says, noting that the chances of developing liver disease go up the longer a person has been drinking and is most common between the ages of 40 and 50. Other Yale Medicine doctors have diagnosed people with liver disease when they are still in their 20s.
Up to one in every five long-term heavy drinkers will develop alcohol-related liver cirrhosis. While cirrhosis is not reversible, there is good evidence that stopping drinking completely improves the outcome for some people. If you have cirrhosis and do not stop drinking, then you are likely to die from liver failure.
Patients with cirrhosis, regardless of etiology, should not drink any alcohol at all.
Key points about cirrhosis
The most common causes are hepatitis and other viruses, and alcohol abuse. Other medical problems can also cause it. The damage to the liver usually can't be reversed.
There are two stages in cirrhosis: compensated and decompensated. Compensated cirrhosis: People with compensated cirrhosis do not show symptoms, while life expectancy is around 9–12 years. A person can remain asymptomatic for years, although 5–7% of those with the condition will develop symptoms every year.
It also is notable that the largest increase was seven-fold in the age group 24 to 35 years and that the steepest increase was among those ages 65 to 74.
Liver is the most affected organ by alcohol, metabolising ~98%, increasing the risk of cirrhosis, cancer and significant deaths. In Australia, ~2% of drinkers/year will develop alcoholic cirrhosis with median survival as low as 1–2 years.
In the past, liver cirrhosis was considered an irreversible phenomenon. However, many experimental data have provided evidence of the reversibility of liver fibrosis. Moreover, multiple clinical studies have also shown regression of fibrosis and reversal of cirrhosis on repeated biopsy samples.