Comparative study of anthropometric measurements, liver function tests, hemoglobin and plasma glucose levels between individuals with alcohol abuse and controls

Abstract

Background: Alcohol abuse is global burden to families as well as society. On the ‘years of life lost scale’, which is based on alcohol attributable years of life lost, India has been rated 4 on a scale of 1 to 5. This implies that the alcohol consuming population of our country loses most of the years of their life because of drinking and its consequences. The aim of this research is to compare anthropometric measurements, liver function tests, haemoglobin and plasma glucose levels in individuals with alcohol abuse and normal population.Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of General Medicine, Civil Hospital, Aizawl. 84 cases of individuals with alcohol abuse (as per DSM-IV criteria) within the age group of 18-70 years and 70 age, sex, height and weight matched lifetime abstainers, healthy individuals were taken as controls from medicine department. They underwent a detailed clinical examination, anthropometric measurements, liver function tests, haemoglobin and plasma glucose levels.Results: 15.5% of the individuals with alcohol abuse had hypertension. The mean post prandial glucose among the individuals with alcohol abuse was 116.8±12.3 mg/dl and among the controls was 121.1±11.0 mg/dl. Mean serum bilirubin 1.1 mg/dl, AST 79 IU/l & ALT was 79.6 in alcoholics. The mean serum bilirubin 0.8 mg/dl, AST 27.2 IU/l and ALT was 29.4 in non-alcoholics.Conclusions: The individuals with alcohol abuse have raised serum bilirubin, AST and ALT levels compared to the non-alcoholics. Prevalence of hypertension is higher in the individuals with alcohol abuse compared to normal population.