Abstract
Long-term intake of alcohol affects virtually every organ in the body including the immune system. The relation between alcohol abuse and immunoglobulin production has not been studied in Indian population. Serum levels of immunoglobulins (total IgE, IgG, IgM, and IgA) therefore, were analyzed in adult chronic alcoholics and were correlated with different epidemiological and alcohol-related parameters. The results showed that 98% of alcoholics had abnormal immunoglobulin levels and 92% showed high or very high total serum IgE levels compared to 24% of the control group. Long term and moderate consumption of alcohol were also associated with frequent infections. Serum immunoglobulin assay including total IgE may be helpful in screening and assessment of chronicity of alcohol abuse.
Highlights
Long-term intake of alcohol besides having psychosocial and financial impact imposes serious health problems [1]
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score among the alcoholics was >30 in 6, 16-30 in 32, and
A positive association was found between smoking, nonvegetarian diet and heavy alcohol consumption
Summary
Long-term intake of alcohol besides having psychosocial and financial impact imposes serious health problems [1]. It affects virtually every organ in the body including immune system [2]. Alcohol abuse interferes with the host’s immune surveillance system and leads to diminished humoral and cell-mediated immune responses against infections. It has been documented in the past that chronic alcohol consumption may alter B cell numbers and causes hypergammaglobulinemia possibly due to antigenic stimulation of B lymphocytes [4]. Except total IgE, conflicting results have been shown regarding individual immunoglobulins [5,6,7,8,9]
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