Climate Tied to Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Is alcoholic cirrhosis a product of cold, gray weather?

Shah noted that heavy alcohol intake can give the perception of warmth -- a fact that leads to the assumption that people in countries with colder weather drink more and might therefore have increased prevalence of alcoholic liver diseases. And it's known that hours of sunlight are related to both temperature and depression and therefore also could influence alcohol use, he added. Bu the assumptions have not been tested using global epidemiological data, he said. the analysis showed significant links between the AAF and average temperature, mean annual sunshine hours, and latitude, so Shah's group conducted a further multivariate analysis, adjusting for the percentage of binge drinkers among active drinkers and average alcohol consumption. That analysis showed average temperature and sunshine hours remained independently associated with AAF. Shah said. For instance, for every degree Celsius increase in temperature there is an observed 0.3% decrease in AAF. Although there are likely many other factors that come into play, Shah said, one possible implication of the study is that public policy measures to prevent alcohol cirrhosis should be especially active in colder climates. https://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/EASL/64734?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-04-24&eun=g721819d0r&pos=2