Addressing liver disease in the UK: a blueprint for attaining excellence in health care and reducing premature mortality from lifestyle issues of excess consumption of alcohol, obesity and viral hepatitis.

Williams, Roger, Aspinall, Richard, Bellis, Mark, Camps-Walsh, Ginette, Cramp, Matthew, Dhawan, Anil, Ferguson, James, Forton, Dan, Foster, Graham, Gilmore, Ian, Hickman, Matthew, Hudson, Mark, Kelly, Deirdre, Langford, Andrew, Lombard, Martin, Longworth, Louise, Martin, Natasha, Moriarty, Kieran, Newsome, Philip, O'Grady, John, Pryke, Rachel, Rutter, Harry, Ryder, Stephen, Sheron, Nick and Smith, Tom (2014) Addressing liver disease in the UK: a blueprint for attaining excellence in health care and reducing premature mortality from lifestyle issues of excess consumption of alcohol, obesity and viral hepatitis. The Lancet, 384, 1953-1997. (doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61838-9).

Abstract

Liver disease in the UK stands out as the one glaring exception to the vast improvements made during the past 30 years in health and life expectancy for chronic disorders such as stroke, heart disease, and many cancers. Mortality rates have increased 400% since 1970, and in people younger than 65 years have risen by almost five-times. Liver disease constitutes the third commonest cause of premature death in the UK and the rate of increase of liver disease is substantially higher in the UK than other countries in western Europe. More than 1 million admissions to hospital per year are the result of alcohol-related disorders, and both the number of admissions and the increase in mortality closely parallel the rise in alcohol consumption in the UK during the past three decades.

The aim of this Commission is to provide the strongest evidence base through involvement of experts from a wide cross-section of disciplines, making firm recommendations to reduce the unacceptable premature mortality and disease burden from avoidable causes and to improve the standard of care for patients with liver disease in hospital. From the substantial number of recommendations given in our Commission, we selected those that will have the greatest effect and that need urgent implementation. Although the recommendations are based mostly on data from England, they have wider application to the UK as a whole, and are in accord with the present strategy for health-care policy by the Scottish Health Boards, the Health Department of Wales, and the Department of Health and Social Services in Northern Ireland.

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Contributors

Author: Nick Sheron

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