Deaths from liver disease are increasing at an alarming rate and, by 2030, will exceed those from cardiac deaths, warned Kevin Moore, professor of hepatology at University College London, and Nick Sheron, consultant hepatologist at Southampton General Hospital.
Writing in the British Journal of Hospital Medicine, the authors pointed out that over 95% of all liver diseases are entirely preventable or treatable. Deaths from liver disease occur at an average age of 55 rather than 82 for cardiac disease or stroke. “To stop this we need to reduce the rising tide of alcoholic liver disease and fatty liver disease, and actively treat the increasing number of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C,” said the authors. To reverse this trend the Government has also recently announced a new initiative, the National Strategy for Liver Disease. Prof. Moore and Dr Sheron stressed that the increase in liver deaths is largely due to alcohol being moved away from specialist pubs and wine merchants. They pointed out that beer is 170% more affordable now than in 1979, for example.
