Are the opportunities to prevent alcohol related liver deaths in the UK in primary or secondary care? A retrospective clinical review and prospective interview study

摘要

BackgroundDeaths from liver cirrhosis have increased at least 8 fold since the 1970's in the UK and further increases are anticipated, whereas in the rest of Europe liver deaths are decreasing. In the UK, we urgently need strategies to detect those who misuse alcohol and are at risk of developing alcoholic liver disease before they get to that point. One potential strategy is to screen admissions to hospital with alcohol related conditions for evidence of alcohol misuse.Surprisingly, there has been no research into the important question of where the opportunities are to detect those who misuse alcohol – primary or secondary care. We attempted to answer this firstly by conducting a retrospective analysis of the medical notes of 94 patients diagnosed with alcohol induced liver cirrhosis between 1^st January 1995 and 31^st December 2000 at Southampton General Hospital with the purpose of identifying admissions to hospital prior to a diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease. In the second part of the study, we interviewed patients with alcoholic liver disease about their contact with health services.