Recently, a study conducted by researchers from Peking University and Oxford Population Health make clear the susceptibility of Chinese men to 60 diseases related to alcohol consumption. The study, titled “Alcohol consumption and risks of greater than 200 diseases in Chinese men,” was published in the celebrated journal Nature Medicine.
Alcohol consumption poses a big global health threat, with previous research highlighting its strong association with diseases akin to liver cirrhosis, stroke, and various kinds of cancer. Nonetheless, there was a scarcity of systematic investigation into the general medical impact of drinking inside a particular population, which prompted the researchers to undertake this study.
To conduct their research, the team utilized data from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB), a comprehensive database comprising information from over 512,000 adults recruited across China between 2004 and 2008. The database not only contained crucial health information but additionally included detailed interviews regarding participants’ lifestyle decisions, including their alcohol consumption patterns. The researchers tracked medical diagnoses over a span of 12 years and performed genetic analyses to ascertain the causal relationship between alcohol intake and disease development.
The findings of this study not only confirmed the 28 alcohol-related diseases previously advocated by the World Health Organization but additionally uncovered a further 33 diseases, including gout, cataracts, certain fractures, and gastric ulcers, that will be attributed to a history of alcohol consumption.
Professor Li Liming, a senior writer and co-PI of CKB at Peking University, emphasized the necessity for stronger alcohol control policies in China, noting, “Levels of alcohol consumption are rising in China, particularly amongst men. This huge collaborative study demonstrates a have to strengthen alcohol control policies in China.”
Professor Zhengming Chen, Richard Peto Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford Population Health, stressed the importance of the study’s causal evidence in informing prevention strategies worldwide.
This study provides necessary causal evidence of the dimensions of alcohol-related harms, which is critical to tell prevention strategies in numerous countries.”
Professor Zhengming Chen, Richard Peto Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford Population Health
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Journal reference:
Im, P. K., et al. (2023). Alcohol consumption and risks of greater than 200 diseases in Chinese men. Nature Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02383-8.