Association of moderate alcohol intake with the risks of cirrhosis and steatotic liver disease: Results from a large population-based cohort study

Background&aims

There is uncertainty about the associations between moderate alcohol consumption and liver-related outcomes. We aimed to explore the associations of moderate drinking with cirrhosis, steatotic liver disease (SLD), and liver cancer in a large cohort study.

Methods

A total of 215,559 non-drinkers and moderate drinkers (<20 g/day alcohol for females or < 30 g/day for males) were enrolled between 2006 and 2010 and followed up to 2022. The primary outcome is incident cirrhosis, and the secondary outcomes are the incidence of steatotic liver disease and liver cancer. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for liver-related outcomes in relation to moderate drinkers, as well as the quantity and type of their alcohol intake. All analyses were stratified by sex.

Results

A total of 705 cirrhosis, 2010 SLD, and 350 liver cancer cases were documented during a median follow-up period of 12.7 years. Compared with non-drinkers, moderate drinkers had a lower risk of SLD (HR: 0.77; 95 % CI: 0.66, 0.89). Among the moderate drinkers, alcohol intake [per standard deviation (SD) increment] was associated with an increased risk of incident cirrhosis (HR: 1.11; 95 % CI: 1.02, 1.20), but the association was attenuated after restricting alcohol intake to no more than 16 g/day. Wine consumption (per SD increment of the percentage of wine consumption of total alcohol intake) had an inverse association with incident cirrhosis and SLD (HR: 0.82; 95 % CI: 0.75, 0.89 for cirrhosis; HR: 0.91; 95 % CI: 0.87, 0.96 for SLD). The inverse associations between moderate wine use and SLD were likely to be sex-dependent (P for interaction = 0.01).

Conclusions

The excessive alcohol threshold of 30 g/day for males may be set high for liver health. Further work is needed to make sex-specific recommendations on moderate drinking for liver health.