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11 Feb, 2014

Alcoholic liver disease on the rise in Australian young women

More young women are being treated for advanced liver disease caused by steady and dangerous drinking starting in teenage years, doctors warn. Specialists say young, professional women are significantly contributing to the rising hospitalisation rates for people aged 20 to 29 with alcoholic cirrhosis.

”We are used to alcoholic liver disease in middle-aged men but scarily we are seeing a significant number of women in their 20s and 30s in this situation,” Simone Strasser, a liver specialist and spokeswoman for the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, said.

”These are young professional women aged 25 to 35 who are functioning in other areas of their lives but are drinking at consistently risky levels,” Associate Professor Strasser said. ”They have busy lifestyles and think it’s not doing them any harm.”

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