Deaths from liver disease 'doubled in decade'

Deaths from liver disease more than doubled in the past decade because of excessive alcohol consumption, a study reveals today.

Research in the West Midlands shows that deaths from liver failure increased from six per 100,000in 1993 to 13 in 2000.

The rise was "almost exclusively the result of alcoholic liver disease", a report in the British Medical Journal said. Consultants from Dudley, Wolverhampton and Sandwell said alcohol abuse was responsible for nearly 70 per cent of liver-related deaths they investigated.

Death rates from alcoholic liver disease rose by similar amounts among white men, white women and Asian men, which suggested that drinking habits among the Asian population had increased.

Neil Fisher, a consultant physician and gastroenterologist at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, said the increased death rate from alcohol-related cirrhosis was part of a national trend that might be caused by increased alcohol consumption, the type of drink consumed or other factors related to diet, genes or the environment.

"Although the overall population of Asians in our study is small, their excess risk of mortality is worth further study," he said.

The doctors called for more public warnings about the dangers of drinking. Halting or reversing the increase "requires further public emphasis on the risk of fatal liver disease from excessive alcohol consumption", they said.