As a transplant hepatologist in Los Angeles, Brian Lee, MD, MAS, has seen his share of alcoholics with advanced liver disease, people who have spent decades drinking their body toward an early death.
In recent years, however, the demographic of these patients has shifted in a particularly worrisome direction. More than ever, young adults and even late adolescents too young to drink legally are showing signs of organ damage after just a few years of problem alcohol use.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of 20-year-olds with end-stage liver disease and liver failure,” said Lee, an associate professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles. “Young adults with alcohol-associated liver disease [ALD] are the fastest growing demographic contributing to liver-related mortality.”
However,…