Table 1.

Systemic Damage Produced by Chronic Excessive Alcohol Consumption that Should be Considered in Subjects with ALD

Digestive tract

Esophagitis

Acute and chronic gastritis

Acute and chronic pancreatitis

Gastrointestinal bleeding

Central and peripheral nervous system

Increase risk of hemorrhagic stroke

Sensitive motor polyneuropathy

Autonomic neuropathy

Wernicke's encephalopathy and related diseases

Alcohol‐related dementia

Alcohol withdrawal and delirium

Behavioral effects

Heart and vascular system

Hypertension

Increased ischemic peripheral vascular disease

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy

Subclinical

Diastolic dysfunction

Clinical (heart failure, arrythmias)

Sudden death

Bone and skeletal muscle

Osteoporosis

Skeletal myopathy

Subclinical

Clinical (muscle weakness, myalgia)

Nutritional status

Caloric malnutrition

Protein malnutrition

Vitamin, ionic, and mineral deficiencies

Pellagra

Endocrine‐metabolic dysfunction

Disruption of gonadal axis

Hypertriglyceridemia, increased HDL

Reduced insulin sensitivity

Plasma acidemia

Increased oxidative tissue stress

Fetal alcohol syndrome

Hemato‐immune dysfunction

Lymphocyte dysfunction

Immunocomplex induction

Altered phagocytic activity

Bone marrow dysplasia

Disruption of platelet aggregation and fibrinloysis (fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor)

Increased risk of infection (gram‐negative, mycobacterial)

Increased risk of cancer

Mouth

Larynx

Esophageal

Gastric

Colon‐rectum

Liver

Kidney

Breast