Is Pollution Linked to Liver Disease?

Digestive Disease Week was held in Chicago, IL this year from May 30th – June 4th, 2009. The world’s largest gathering of physicians and researchers in the fields of hepatology, endoscopy, gastroenterology, and gastrointestinal surgery was sponsored by the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American Gastroenterological Association Institute. During Digestive Week the findings of a new study done by researchers at the University of Louisville examining liver disease and pollution was shared with some interesting results.

The study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during the years of 2003-2004 to determine the connection between environmental pollutants and liver disease. The study looked at nearly 4,500 subjects with liver disease and also looked at over 110 common pollutants to see if they were present in the subjects. They found that many low-level pollutants, such as mercury and lead, were found in at least 60 percent of the subjects.

In the end, the researchers determined that one in three adults has liver disease in the United States, and that some of the cases of liver disease can be attributed to chronic low-level environmental pollution. This was after adjusting for obesity, viral hepatitis and alcoholism, all three of which present risk factors for liver disease.





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