Alcohol and hepatitis C mortality among males and females in the United States: a life table analysis.

Objective: Evidence from previous studies suggests that heavy alcohol use (HAU) exacerbates the rate of fibrosis progression in the liver and results in increased probability for premature death among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The current study uses population-based mortality data to investigate whether heavy drinking affects the age of death among individuals with HCV and, if so, whether this effect differs between men and women.

Methods: A total of 7,263,163 death records in the United States between 2000 and 2002 were drawn from the Multiple Cause of Death (MCD) public-use data files compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Alcohol and the cardiovascular system: research challenges and opportunities.

Excessive alcohol consumption has long been associated with cardiovascular disorders, including cardiomyopathy, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and stroke. However, recent evidence suggests that moderate alcohol intake can actually provide a measure of cardioprotection, particularly against coronary heart disease and ischemia-reperfusion injury. To explore the various dimensions of these opposing actions of alcohol, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored a state-of-the-art workshop on "Alcohol and the Cardiovascular System: Research Challenges and Opportunities" in Bethesda, Maryland, in May 2003.

Hepatitis C and alcohol: fundamental and translational research directions.

Infection with hepatitis C and the alcohol abuse that frequently accompanies it, impose major worldwide healthcare burdens. The scientific knowledge base that would inform and direct the development of more effective treatment and intervention strategies for these linked pandemics is inadequate. Therefore, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) organized a workshop in which a multidisciplinary group of experts was asked to review the state-of-the-science specific to alcohol in the context of hepatitis C infection.