LIVER-DISEASE DEATHS DROPPED DURING 1980S

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 8, 1993                   TAG: 9301080097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Short
LIVER-DISEASE DEATHS DROPPED DURING 1980S
The death rate from chronic liver disease is dropping as Americans reduce their alcohol consumption, federal health authorities said Thursday.
Liver disease remained the nation's ninth-leading cause of death, even though it is largely preventable, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
However, "the recent decline in alcohol consumption had a major, major effect on the mortality and hospitalization from chronic liver disease," said Jim Mendlein, a CDC epidemiologist.
From 1980 through 1989, the death rate from chronic liver disease decreased 23 percent, from 13.5 per 100,000 people to 10.4, the CDC reported Thursday. The rate of hospitalizations for the disease dropped 44 percent.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB