KASL clinical practice guidelines: management of alcoholic liver disease.

Abstract

In Korea, alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the second most common cause of chronic liver disease after viral liver disease, and the rate of alcohol-related deaths is high, at 9.6 deaths per 100,000 persons per year. Nevertheless, the Korean culture is lenient toward drinking and the inebriated state, which is due to alcohol being considered an important social lubricant for both business and private gatherings. ALD tends to be thought of as a personal problem, and as such its importance is underestimated. Furthermore, academic interest in ADL is dwindling since the advent of antiviral therapy. However, given the keen worldwide interest and research into ALD, there remains a need for clinical practice guidelines that are tailored to the Korean healthcare system for the management of this disease. This need prompted the Korean Association for the Study of the Liver (KASL) to develop the “KASL Clinical Practice Guidelines: Management of Alcoholic Liver Disease”, based on a systematic approach to reflect evidence-based medicine and expert opinion in internal medicine and psychiatry, with the aim of setting clinical practice guidelines for the management of ALD and improving public health in Korea.