Risk of chronic liver disease in post-menopausal women due to body mass index, alcohol and their interaction: a prospective nested cohort study within the United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS)

BACKGROUND: We investigated the risk of chronic liver disease (CLD) due to alcohol consumption and body mass index (BMI) and the effects of their interaction in a prospective cohort study of women recruited to the UKCTOCS trial. METHODS: 95,126 post-menopausal women without documented CLD were stratified into 12 groups defined by combinations of BMI (normal, overweight, obese) and alcohol consumption (none, <1–15, 16–20 and ≥21 units/week), and followed for an average of 5.1 years. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated for incident liver-related events (LRE). RESULTS: First LREs were reported in 325 (0.34%) participants. Compared to women with normal BMI, HR = 1.44 (95% CI; 1.10–1.87) in the overweight group and HR = 2.25 (95% CI; 1.70–2.97) in the obese group, adjusted for alcohol and potential confounders. Compared to those abstinent from alcohol, HR = 0.70 (95% CI; 0.55–0.88) for <1–15 units/week, 0.93 (95% CI; 0.50–1.73) for 16–20 units/week and 1.82 (95% CI; 0.97–3.39) for ≥21 units/week adjusted for BMI and potential confounders. Compared to women with normal BMI drinking no alcohol, HR for LRE in obese women consuming ≥21 units/week was 2.86 (95% CI; 0.67–12.42), 1.58 (95% CI; 0.96–2.61) for obese women drinking <1–15 units/week and 1.93 (95% CI; 0.66–5.62) in those with normal BMI consuming ≥21 units/week after adjustment for potential confounders. We found no significant interaction between BMI and alcohol. CONCLUSION: High BMI and alcohol consumption and abstinence are risk factors for CLD in post-menopausal women. However, BMI and alcohol do not demonstrate significant interaction in this group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UKCTOCS is registered as an International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial, number ISRCTN22488978. Registered 06/04/2000. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4518-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.