Background: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the most common liver disease in India, caused by excessive intake of alcohol even though being a preventable disease.The three principal types of ALD are fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis.Objectives: Study of clinical presentation, laboratory parameters, abdominal sonographic and upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings, and complications in patients of ALD in Sikkim.Methods: Descriptive observational hospital-based study was carried on 100 ALD patients admitted in Department of General Medicine in a teaching hospital of Sikkim, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria.Data were tabulated and analyzed using IBM-SPSS statistics Coffee / Espresso / Tea Machine Cleaners version 22 software.
Results: The mean age was 48 years with majority being males (84%), occupied in unskilled work (67%), with lower education level (52%), and belonging to middle socioeconomic status (56%).The average intake of alcohol by males was 63 g/day, and in females, it was 40 g/day with average duration of alcohol intake being 16 years.Most common presenting features were nausea (90%), jaundice (67%), and anorexia (64%).The mean total bilirubin (mg/dL), aspartate aminotransferase (IU/L), alanine aminotransferase (IU/L), serum albumin (g/dL), and prothrombin time difference (seconds) were 4.74, 110.
2, 59.1, 3.4, and 4.1.Abdominal sonography revealed ascites (53%) and cirrhosis (43%), and upper Display Console Overlay gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed varices (52%) as common finding.
The most common complications were gastrointestinal bleeding (54%) and portal hypertension (51%).Conclusions: Due to high mortality and morbidity associated with this preventable liver disease along with a multidisciplinary approach to tackle this alcohol menace, a sound regional knowledge of clinical presentation and workup findings can help in effective treatment strategies of the same.