PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nick Sheron
AU  - Fern Chilcott
AU  - Laura Matthews
AU  - Ben Challoner
AU  - Maria Thomas
TI  - Impact of minimum price per unit of alcohol on patients with liver disease in the UK
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.14-4-396
DP  - 2014 Aug 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 396--403
VI  - 14
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/14/4/396.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/14/4/396.full
SO  - Clin Med2014 Aug 01; 14
AB  - The slow epidemic of liver disease in the UK over the past 30 years is a result of increased consumption of strong cheap alcohol. When we examined alcohol consumption in 404 subjects with a range of liver disease, we confirmed that patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis drank huge amounts of cheap alcohol, with a mean weekly consumption of 146 units in men and 142 in women at a median price of 33p/unit compared with £1.10 for low-risk drinkers. For the patients in our study, the impact of a minimum unit price of 50p/unit on spending on alcohol would be 200 times higher for patients with liver disease who were drinking at harmful levels than for low-risk drinkers. As a health policy, a minimum unit price for alcohol is exquisitely targeted at the heaviest drinkers, for whom the impact of alcohol-related illness is most devastating.