Alcohol and Chronic Hepatitis C

Clinical Liver Disease
Special Issue: Alcoholic Liver Disease
Volume 2, Issue 2, pages 72–75, April 2013

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Alcohol and Chronic Hepatitis C

Chronic HCV infection is the leading cause of advanced liver disease in the United States; an estimated 3.2 million people have active chronic HCV infection.7 Alcohol consumption is a common comorbidity in these patients, and multiple studies have shown that it may result in synergistic injury, with accelerated rates of fibrosis and the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer.8–11 Various mechanisms have been proposed, including: alcohol's effect on HCV viral replication, HCV-related cytotoxicity, hepatic oxidative stress, and immune modulation.
 

There is evidence that HCV RNA levels increase in concert with a more pronounced alcohol intake (Fig. 1a).12 Conversely, it has been shown that serum HCV RNA decreases with a reduction in alcohol intake (Fig. 1b).2

Alcohol consumption is also associated with HCV progression, and there is extensive evidence showing that chronic alcohol consumption leads to disease progression (Table 1) - see below.

Even small doses of alcohol intake (below 30 g/day) can promote liver fibrogenesis.13 Thus, it appears that there is no “safe alcohol consumption” among patients with HCV infection.

Chronic alcohol consumption in HCV-infected patients stimulates not only fibrogenesis but also hepatocarcinogenesis.

Patients with chronic HCV infection who actively consume alcohol have a higher relative risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared with abstainers (54 versus 19, respectively).14 This risk also appears to be dose-dependent. In one study, alcohol consumption >80 g/day increased the risk for HCC significantly by a factor of 7.3 when compared with <40 g/day.11

Finally, there are data showing that alcoholics have inferior rates of response to HCV therapy.15 However, the question about a possible inhibitory effect of alcohol on therapy rather than patient noncompliance requires further research.

Table 1. Effect of Alcohol Consumption in the Progression of HCV Infection
 

Study	Alcohol Intake Evaluation	No. of Patients	Results
Roudot-Thoraval et al.33	Excessive alcohol intake defined as >5 drinks/day for women and 6 drinks/day for men for >1 year	6,664	Excessive alcohol intake was also associated with a higher risk of cirrhosis (34.9% versus 18.2%; P < 0.001).
Poynard et al.34	Abstinent/Moderate, <50 g/day; high, ≥50 g/day	2,235	Fibrosis rate progression increased from 0.125 to 0.167 in patients with consumption ≥50 g/day
Pessione et al.12	Weekly self-reported alcohol consumption	233	Significant correlation between self-reported alcohol consumption and serum HCV RNA levels (r = 0.26; P = 0.001)
Corrao et al.35	Lifetime daily alcohol intake	702	Alcohol intake + HCV infection multiplies the alcohol-associated risk of cirrhosis (odds ratio: 9.0 for 50 g/day, 26.1 for 100 g/day, 133 for >125 g/day)
Harris et al.36	Heavy drinking defined as >80 g/day	836	Heavy drinking exacerbates the risk for cirrhosis among patients with HCV infection (odds ratio: 7.8 versus 31.1 in HCV and HCV heavy drinkers, respectively)

Additional Topics:
Alcohol and Chronic Hepatitis B
Alcohol and NAFLD
Alcohol Consumption and Hereditary Hemochromatosis
Alcohol, Drug Interactions and Autoimmune Liver Diseases
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