Liver Week: 25% of Aragonese suffer from fatty liver disease | Aragon

The president of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH), Manuel Romero, warned on Tuesday in Zaragoza about continued rise in the number of people suffering from fatty liver diseasethe disease from which one suffers 25% of Aragon’s population, more than 330,000 Aragonese. “The problem is that The worst is yet to come, and almost no one knows about it.” Romero noted the prevalence of this disease associated with excess weight, and that It affects eight out of 10 obese people.

This increase will be discussed in Zaragoza until the 20th. as part of the Week of Liver Diseases in Aragon. The purpose of this meeting is to raise public awareness of the importance of liver disease in the context of public health and the need for prevention and early detection. to prevent progressionWhat It is growing in all segments of the population and currently affects even 2% to 3% of children.

In this progression the element is repeated: alcohol consumption, and it is in this area that young people exhibit “particularly hazardous” consumption patterns. practices such as “binge drinking”, that is, drinking large amounts of alcohol over several hours, and this “May be more harmful to liver health than moderate consumption”noted the organizers of this day.

Fatty liver and alcohol-related liver disease replaced viral hepatitis as the main cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and indications for transplantation, while poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and alcohol consumption are the main enemies of liver health. Pathologies associated with this organ They are now the third leading cause of premature death in Spain. and they are also the second reason for the loss of years of working life, only for cardiovascular diseases.

Experts call for National Liver Health Plan

Considering the increasing prevalence of liver pathologies and the changing paradigm of their causes and development, Hepatologists consider it necessary to launch a National Liver Health Plan focused on prevention and early detection.

According to Dr. Vanesa Bernal from the digestive system service of the Miguel Servet University Hospital and coordinator of this initiative, it is proposed screening all people with risk factors as these are “silent” diseases that do not become apparent until the liver is severely damaged.