Number of young adults with alcoholic liver disease quadruples

THE number of young adults who have developed alcoholic liver disease has almost quadrupled in just 14 years, new research has found.

And the mortality rate of those who have died in hospital from alcoholic liver disease (ALD) has increased by 188%, from 2.6 per 100,000 people aged 15 and over in 1995 to 7.5 per 100,000 in 2009.

One of the authors of the report, Dr Aiden McCormick said a situation had developed where there was a “massive industry based around alcohol yet none of the money is being put into harm reduction”.