A cross-sectional study of alcohol consumption and alcoholic liver disease in Beijing: based on 74,998 community residents

BACKGROUND: The alcohol consumption pattern, alcoholic liver disease (ALD) prevalence and related risk factors among alcohol drinkers in Beijing haven’t been fully elucidated. Hence, a cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate potential link among these factors. METHODS: A two-stage stratified cluster sampling was carried out in Beijing. All participants were 25 years of age or older, possessed with medical insurance, and lived in Beijing for over 6 months. As part for this investigation, participants were asked to answer a questionnaire and undergo physical examination. The questionnaire included demographic information, alcohol intake, and medical history. The physical examination included physical and Fibrotouch tests. Moreover, 10 ml blood sample was collected from each subject to examine liver functions, perform routine blood, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). RESULTS: Overall, 74,988 residents participated in our study. The proportion of current drinkers among all participants was 46.10%. The differences in gender, region, age group, education, annual household income, and occupation among lifetime abstainers, former drinkers, non-weekly and weekly drinkers were significantly different (P<0.05). The ethanol intake between men and women, people living in urban and rural regions were significantly different (P<0.05). Strong spirits were commonly consumed by men, whereas, beers were commonly consumed by women. Drinking strong spirits generally lead to liver steatosis. In addition, ALD prevalence was 1.30% in participants over 25 years old. The differences in ALD prevalence between men and women, and among different age groups, were significant (P<0.05). Based on our analysis, ALD risk factors in Beijing included: gender (male), age (older than 35 years), high waist circumference, high blood pressure, high BMI, high blood sugar level, and being heavy drinkers. CONCLUSION: Compared with other cities or regions in China, the level of alcohol consumption in Beijing is at an upper middle level. But the ALD prevalence is low likely because ethanol intake is relatively low. Our analysis revealed that heavy drinking is a major risk factor for ALD development. Hence, if alcohol consumption is unavoidable, we caution against heavy drinking.