Global epidemiology of alcohol-related liver disease, liver cancer, and alcohol use disorder, 2000–2021
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Date
2025
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Abstract
Background/Aims Alcohol represents a leading burden of disease worldwide, including alcohol use disorder (AUD) and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). We aim to assess the global burden of AUD, ALD, and alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer between 2000–2021. Methods We registered the global and regional trends of AUD, ALD, and alcohol-related liver cancer using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 Study, the largest and most up-to-date global epidemiology database. We estimated the annual percent change (APC) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) to assess changes in age-standardized rates over time. Results In 2021, there were 111.12 million cases of AUD, 3.02 million cases of ALD, and 132,030 cases of alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer. Between 2000 and 2021, there was a 14.66% increase in AUD, a 38.68% increase in ALD, and a 94.12% increase in alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer prevalence. While the age-standardized prevalence rate for liver cancer from alcohol increased (APC 0.59%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52 to 0.67%) over these years, it decreased for ALD (APC –0.71%; 95% CI –0.75 to –0.67%) and AUD (APC –0.90%; 95% CI –0.94 to –0.86%). There was significant variation by region, socioeconomic development level, and sex. During the last years (2019–2021), the prevalence, incidence, and death of ALD increased to a greater extent in females. Conclusions Given the high burden of AUD, ALD, and alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer, urgent measures are needed to prevent them at both global and national levels.