Global epidemiology of alcohol-related liver disease, liver cancer, and alcohol use disorder, 2000–2021
- Author:
Pojsakorn DANPANICHKUL
1
;
Luis Antonio DÍAZ
;
Kanokphong SUPARAN
;
Primrose TOTHANARUNGROJ
;
Supapitch SIRIMANGKLANURAK
;
Thanida AUTTAPRACHA
;
Hanna L. BLANEY
;
Banthoon SUKPHUTANAN
;
Yanfang PANG
;
Siwanart KONGARIN
;
Francisco IDALSOAGA
;
Eduardo FUENTES-LÓPEZ
;
Lorenzo LEGGIO
;
Mazen NOUREDDIN
;
Trenton M. WHITE
;
Alexandre LOUVET
;
Philippe MATHURIN
;
Rohit LOOMBA
;
Patrick S. KAMATH
;
Jürgen REHM
;
Jeffrey V. LAZARUS
;
Karn WIJARNPREECHA
;
Juan Pablo ARAB
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From:Clinical and Molecular Hepatology 2025;31(2):525-547
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background/Aims:Alcohol represents a leading burden of disease worldwide, including alcohol use disorder (AUD) and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). We aim to assess the global burden of AUD, ALD, and alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer between 2000–2021.
Methods:We registered the global and regional trends of AUD, ALD, and alcohol-related liver cancer using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 Study, the largest and most up-to-date global epidemiology database. We estimated the annual percent change (APC) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) to assess changes in age-standardized rates over time.
Results:In 2021, there were 111.12 million cases of AUD, 3.02 million cases of ALD, and 132,030 cases of alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer. Between 2000 and 2021, there was a 14.66% increase in AUD, a 38.68% increase in ALD, and a 94.12% increase in alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer prevalence. While the age-standardized prevalence rate for liver cancer from alcohol increased (APC 0.59%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52 to 0.67%) over these years, it decreased for ALD (APC –0.71%; 95% CI –0.75 to –0.67%) and AUD (APC –0.90%; 95% CI –0.94 to –0.86%). There was significant variation by region, socioeconomic development level, and sex. During the last years (2019–2021), the prevalence, incidence, and death of ALD increased to a greater extent in females.
Conclusions:Given the high burden of AUD, ALD, and alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer, urgent measures are needed to prevent them at both global and national levels.
