Modest Alcohol Consumption Decreases the Risk of Having Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Meta-analysis of 43,175 Individuals

SILVIA SOOKOIAN; GUSTAVO CASTAÑO; CARLOS JOSE PIROLA

Washington DC

Exposición; The 64nd Annual Meeting of the AASLD. The Liver Meeting 2013; 2013

American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Epidemiological studies suggested that the prevalence and histological disease severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are lower for people who drink modest amounts of alcohol than those who are abstainers. Nevertheless, the final answer of whether or not patients with NAFLD should be allowed modest alcohol consumption is still open. Hence, our primary purpose was to estimate from published data the effect of light or modest alcohol consumption (MAC) on the risk of having NAFLD by performing a meta-analysis to give a quantitative assessment of this relationship. In addition, we aimed to identify the gender- specific effect and also the relationship with co-morbidities, such as obesity. Due to the presence of limited published data about the association between modest alcohol consumption and NAFLD histological disease severity, as a secondary purpose, we collected our own data and revised current literature. Literature searches identified nine studies. In addition to published research, we included data from a case-control study conducted with 414 Argentinean adults. The meta-analysis included 43,175 adult individuals (30,791 nondrinkers and 12,384 modest drinkers). Our results showed that MAC is associated with a significant protection on the risk of NAFLD in both fixed (OR 0.688, 95% CI: 0.646?0.733, p