Women are drinking more, and they’re paying for it with their health.
Drinking rates among women have risen in recent decades, and now they’re getting hit with related complications in higher numbers.
These are the findings of a seven-year
在研究过程中每iod, alcohol-related cirrhosis rose 30 percent among men and 50 percent among women. The mean age at diagnosis was 53.5.
Women are now receiving diagnoses of alcohol use-related disorders at twice the rate of men.
The researchers also found that people with alcohol-related cirrhosis were disproportionately sicker at diagnosis. They were admitted and readmitted to the hospital more often. And their healthcare costs were almost twice those of people with nonalcoholic cirrhosis.
“When I look at this data, it tells me that this is a big problem,” said Dr. Jessica Mellinger in astatement。Mellinger是密歇根大学医疗保健政策与创新研究所的胃肠病学家和卫生服务研究员。
The problem may be much bigger than the study was able to capture.
Mellinger和她的团队使用Truven MarketScan商业索赔和遇到数据库进行了研究。
This included only medical claims involving people aged 18 to 64 who had private insurance through an employer. The researchers didn’t use data from Medicare or Medicaid, as it didn’t include information on substance use.
组中,研究了酒精的速度-related cirrhosis is even higher than some common cancers.
安东·比奇克（Anton Bilchik）博士是加利福尼亚州普罗维登斯圣约翰健康中心的约翰·韦恩癌症研究所的外科教授兼胃肠道研究主管。
He believes the uninsured and underserved population may have an even higher incidence of cirrhosis.
Bilchik解释说：“我们知道，由于筛查不良和更多的危险因素（例如肥胖），癌症发生率更高。”
“Women process alcohol differently than men, and they are more susceptible to damage in the liver than men,” said Mellinger.
“他们可以在较少的酒精和时间范围内发展肝硬化。假设是某些激素使女性更容易受到影响，尽管我们不知道为什么她们更容易受到影响。” Mellinger继续说道。
比尔奇克说，这项研究令人震惊。
比尔奇克说：“这表明，鉴于发病率的增加，妇女需要对自己消耗的酒精量非常谨慎。”“我们实际上不知道确切的原因。”
比尔奇克说，曾经认为雌激素等女性激素的专家可能会预防肝硬化和某些癌症。
“The fact that cirrhosis, which is a precursor to liver cancer, is increasing more rapidly in women than in men would suggest otherwise,” Bilchik said.
Bilchik explains that he’s concerned there could be many women at risk for cirrhosis, but they may not know it until it’s too late.
“By the time it’s detected by CAT [scan] or abnormal liver function tests, it’s usually quite advanced,” he said. “There are no early warning signs, and early damage to the liver is often not seen.”
此外，他指出，饮酒也可以增加其他致命癌症的风险。
比尔奇克说：“我们只是不知道与男性相比，女性是否更容易受到与酒精相关的胰腺或胃癌等癌症的影响。”“没有足够详细的看法。”
比尔奇克说，女性的肝硬化诊断率很高，应使专家围绕安全水平的饮酒水平重新考虑准则。
“The moment women start consuming more than they should, they need to understand that there may well be damage going on in the body that’s not easy to detect,” he said. “And it can become irreversible.”
比尔奇克说，经过多年的饮酒，肝硬化可以发展。但是许多妇女可能不知道她们在为时已晚之前会造成永久性损害。
“The only cure is a liver transplant. The best thing to do is avoid toxins that cause it in the first place,” Bilchik said of cirrhosis. “The problem is that many people are walking around with mild cirrhosis, which they don’t even know about.”
Since other health conditions including hepatitis and obesity can damage the liver, Bilchik warns that women with multiple risk factors should be especially careful.
“It’s safe for most women to have one or two glasses of wine a day. We’re referring to a few ounces, not a tumbler full,” he said. “Women shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking they’re not at risk when there’s half a bottle in each glass.”
According to the
- 12 ounces of regular beer (5 percent alcohol)
- 5 ounces of wine (12 percent alcohol)
- 1.5盎司80辆证明蒸馏烈酒（酒精40％）
Mayra Mendez，博士，LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist and program coordinator for intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health services at Providence Saint John’s Child and Family Development Center in California.
门德斯告诉Healthl雷竞技app官网ine，认为他们“需要”饮料的人起作用或放松的人可能喝得太多了。
“Anytime you’re pulling toward an external tool to feel better, you’re dependent,” she said.
Another clue is that you’re in automatic mode rather than giving thought to what you’re drinking.
Or if you spend your days thinking, “‘I can’t wait to get home to that glass of wine,’ it’s speaking to a bit of dependency,” Mendez said.
Mendez said there are several reasons women may be drinking more.
“Many women are in high-powered positions, having to juggle a lot of responsibility between family life, children, and partners,” she said.
她还指出，与过去相比，女性喝酒在社会上更容易被接受。
“It’s not tainted with taboo anymore. When things are socially sanctioned and they become OK, we tend to do it with less thought to the consequences,” Mendez explained.
与酒精有关的广告越来越多targetingwomen. Drinking to excess is shown as a way to deal with stress and played for laughs in books, movies, television, and on social media.
Mendez says drinking too much or excessive drinking destroys perspective and perception.
“You become less thoughtful, maybe more irresponsible. We know for sure that medically, women metabolize alcohol at a much slower rate than men. It stays in the system longer and the impact of ‘mind fog’ is longer. Women get drunk quicker. That has a huge impact when it’s excessive,” Mendez said.
Bilchik says the total expenses of alcohol-related cirrhosis are massive.
研究发现，在诊断后的第一年，与酒精相关的肝硬化的价格为每人23,319美元。相比之下，与酒精有关的肝硬化的价格为每人44,835美元。
“The epidemics of obesity and alcoholism, all in all, are taking people away from the ability to work and function within their families and communities,” Bilchik said. “It’s much more cost-effective not to get into these situations in the first place.”
Bilchik has another take-home message.
他说：“从小就非常注意生活方式，饮食和营养。”
Mendez says there’s nothing wrong with most people enjoying an alcoholic beverage.
“But it’s a problem when you no longer have control and it has control over you.”
发生这种情况时，她建议寻求专业帮助。
她说：“总是有可能意识到自己在陷阱中，并可以采取行动。”“但是，没有遵循采取行动的自我定位的那一刻，您就知道您需要其他帮助。”
Mendez recommends seeing your primary care physician first and points out that reversing the habit may take the involvement of a psychotherapist.
“问问自己：您真正得到什么帮助？它是饮酒过多还是真的过度压力，您正在用酒精来管理压力？”门德斯说。“您可以学习其他应对工具，以不同于饮酒以外的方式管理压力。”