Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Within the medical and scientific communities, there is a broad consensus regarding alcoholism as a disease state. For example, the American Medical Association considers alcohol a drug and states that "drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite often devastating consequences.
An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious family, health, or legal problems. Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person's lifetime; it usually follows a predictable course; and it has symptoms. The risk for developing alcoholism is influenced both by a person's genes and by his or her lifestyle." [62]
Alcohol use is a major cause of preventable liver disease worldwide, and alcoholic liver disease is the main alcohol-related chronic medical illness. [6] Millions of people of all ages, from adolescents to the elderly, engage in unhealthy drinking. [7] In the United States, excessive alcohol use costs more than $249 billion annually. [8]
The level of ethanol consumption that minimizes the risk of disease, injury, and death is subject to some controversy. [16] Several studies have found a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and health, [17] [18] [2] [19] meaning that risk is minimized at a certain (non-zero) consumption level, and drinking below or above this level increases risk, with the risk level of drinking a ...
Alcoholism is a chronic relapsing disorder that can include extended periods of abstinence followed by relapse to heavy drinking. It is also associated with many other health problems including memory disorders , high blood pressure , muscle weakness, heart problems, anaemia , low immune function, liver disease , disorders of the digestive ...
Alcoholism is a chronic disease characterized by trouble controlling the consumption of alcohol, dependence (needing to consume more to achieve the same effects), and withdrawal upon rapid cessation of drinking. [1]
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined as a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. [123] Excessive alcohol use can lead to health-related illness and continuous alcohol engagement can ultimately lead to death.
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in people with chronic alcohol use particularly is associated with atrophy/infarction of specific regions of the brain, especially the mammillary bodies. Other regions include the anterior region of the thalamus (accounting for amnesic symptoms), the medial dorsal thalamus, the basal forebrain , the median and dorsal ...