Effect of alcohol consumption on kidney function: population-based cohort study Scientific Reports

CYP2E1 is of particular interest when thinking about potential mechanisms for alcohol-related kidney damage. The body mainly metabolizes alcohol using the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which is expressed primarily in the liver. However, during chronic ethanol consumption, the body also uses CYP2E1 in the how does alcohol affect the kidneys liver as well as the kidneys. Interestingly, studies find that CYP2E1 induction is much more robust in the kidneys compared with the liver (Roberts et al. 1994; Zerilli et al. 1995). This massive induction of CYP2E1 in the kidneys results in oxidative stress that modifies phospholipids in cell membranes.

Public Health

When you drink heavily, your kidneys have to work harder to filter out the alcohol. And in rare cases, binge drinking — five or more drinks at a time — can cause a sudden drop in kidney function called acute kidney injury. This serious condition occurs when toxins from alcohol build up in your blood so fast your kidneys can’t maintain the proper fluid balance. Though it’s reversible with treatment, it can increase the risk of developing chronic kidney disease. We pool the evidence from all conventional observational studies combined, as well as individually for all three study designs, to estimate mean IHD risk curves. Based on patterns of results established by previous meta-analyses4,35, we also use data from conventional observational studies to estimate risk curves by IHD endpoint (morbidity or mortality) and further by sex, in addition to estimating risk curves for MI overall and by endpoint.

Alcohol use disorder can be treated with an array of medications—but few people have heard of them

After excluding participants without data on serum Cr at baseline and the sixth phase of follow-up, data from 5729 participants were available for analysis. A compromised diluting ability has important implications for the management of patients with advanced liver disease. Restricting the fluid intake of hyponatremic patients eventually should restore a normal fluid balance; unfortunately, this restriction may be difficult to implement. Patients frequently fail to comply with their physician’s orders to limit their fluid intake. Furthermore, clinicians sometimes overlook the fact that fluids taken with medications also must be restricted for these patients and mistakenly bring pitchers of juice or water to their bedsides. The events leading to abnormal sodium handling in patients with cirrhosis are complex and controversial, however.

Data Availability

Finally, recent research suggests that gabapentin may be more effective in people with a history of alcohol withdrawal. Genes that predict medication effects are also being evaluated, but to date none has had consistent effects across studies. As of May 2024, three medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of alcohol use disorder. The oldest and best known of these medications is disulfiram—sold under the brand name Antabuse—a compound that was first used in the American rubber industry. Deaths from excessive alcohol use have sharply increased in recent years, to 178,000 in the United States in 2021, up from 138,000 five years earlier.

• As the plasma filtrate passes along this channel, the substances the body needs to conserve are reabsorbed into an extensive network of capillaries that wrap the nephron tubule.
• Third, despite using a flexible meta-regression tool that overcame several limitations common to meta-analyses, the results of our meta-analysis were only as good as the quality of the studies included.
• Ethanol itself markedly induces the expression of the microsomal ethanol oxidation system (CYP2E1), producing reactive oxygen species as a byproduct.
• For example, Belliere and colleagues (2015) showed a link between rhabdomyolysis and excessive macrophage infiltration in the kidney, which in turn led to pro-inflammatory marker expression and consequent tissue injury (Belliere et al. 2015).

Influence of alcoholism on the prognosis of patients with CKD

So, alcohol consumption can be a double-edged sword for patients with CKD, and any policy regarding alcohol consumption for them must be very cautious. NO is a free gaseous signal molecule produced by the NOS family, including neuronal NO synthase (nNOS), inducible NO synthase (iNOS), and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), and it plays an important role in hemodynamics regulation. In general, NO is generated by mesangial cells and renal tubular epithelial cells, and it plays an important role in the regulation of glomerular and medullar hemodynamics and renin release. Although different studies have shown opposite results for the effects of NO and NOS activity with alcohol consumption [19,39,46,47], they came to a similar conclusion that NO and NOS play important roles in glomerular endothelial cell injury.

Alcohol may also indirectly increase your risk of developing a UTI, which can cause kidney or abdominal pain. Though scientists agree that alcohol can play a role in the development of certain types of cancer, kidney cancer isn’t one of them. You may wish to swap out hard liquor for beer or wine, since these have a lower alcohol content. Keep track of your drinks using an app or a diary so you can monitor your progress. Drinking alcohol if you already have kidney stones may cause them to move quickly.

• First, many studies are based on patients’ routine health checkups, as annual health examinations do not allow researchers to evaluate any fluctuation in serum creatinine and other biomarkers.
• In another study, Van Thiel and colleagues (1977) compared kidney structure and function in alcohol-fed and control rats.
• Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a spectrum of high risk behaviors including alcohol abuse and dependence.

At first, you might not have any symptoms of kidney damage from regular alcohol consumption. As the kidneys become overworked from heavy alcohol consumption, they will be less able to filter blood and maintain the correct water balance in the body. Having an occasional glass of alcohol may not cause any harmful effects if your kidney functions regularly. Still, you should talk with your doctor about the safety and impact of drinking alcohol if you already have kidney disease or kidney cancer.

Excessive alcohol use

Another noteworthy problem is alcohol consumption in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In recent years, CKD has become one of the most serious global public health problems. Recent studies estimated that CKD affects about 119.5 million people worldwide [10,11].

• Though it’s reversible with treatment, it can increase the risk of developing chronic kidney disease.
• It also might be due to an anatomical issue, like a ureteropelvic junction obstruction.
• Excessive alcohol consumption can have profound negative effects on the kidneys and their function in maintaining the body’s fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base balance, leaving alcoholic people vulnerable to a host of kidney-related health problems.
• Gabapentin is thought to work by soothing parts of the nervous system involved in seizures, pain, and more.
• The human body has dozens of vital organs, and the kidneys are among the most important.

Common risk factors of CKD have been identified, but the impact of alcohol consumption on kidney function is controversial. The study aims to investigate the relationship between alcohol use disorder and CKD on a national scale. Chronic alcohol consumption induces profound injury in several organs that may affect and aggravate the deleterious effect of ethanol on the kidney. Ethanol itself markedly induces the expression of the microsomal ethanol oxidation system (CYP2E1), producing reactive oxygen species as a byproduct.