| Abstract: | Seventy-seven alcoholic patients, 54 men and 23 women, had cirrhosis of the liver when they first attended the Alcoholism Clinic at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, between July, 1964, and June, 1968. During this period 800 chronic alcoholics, 663 men and 137 women, attended the clinic. Cirrhosis was thus diagnosed twice as often in women as in men. The case histories of the 77 cirrhotic patients were reviewed, and information was collected about socio-economic status and drinking habits. This information was compared with that obtained from a sample of 220 patients--all those who attended the Alcoholism Clinic between July, 1966, and June, 1967. Most of the cirrhotic patients were beer drinkers, as are the majority of Australian alcoholics. Relatively more cirrhotics were habitual excessive drinkers. The cirrhotic patients did not drink more heavily, but they had drunk excessively for longer when their cirrhosis was diagnosed. Cirrhotic women, however, had drunk excessively for a significantly shorter time than cirrhotic men. No difference was found in the incidence of either social isolation or clinical peripheral neuropathy between cirrhotic and alcoholic patients, or between male and female cirrhotics. Cirrhosis was not commoner among the lower socio-economic groups. These findings were interpreted as suggesting that nutrition did not play an important part in the causation of the liver disease. Women appear to be more susceptible than men to cirrhosis of the alcoholic, and unremitting habitual excess more damaging than intermittent alcohol abuse. Some undetermined predisposition must also exist, since the disease is still sporadic even when these factors operate. |
