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Edsel Armstrong
10 March 2022

Writing Assignment #1 - Liver Disease in Young Adults

Question 1.

Binge drinking is when one takes enough alcohol beverage for 2 hours and brings the

blood alcohol concentration to about 0.08% or even higher. Typically, binge drinking can be

considered as taking four drinks for women and five drinks for men (McLinn,2020). Effects

of binge drinking can either be long-term or short-term, including; liver disease, a certain

type of cancer, nausea, impaired judgment, and vomiting. Alcohol liver disease is a condition

that is caused by overconsuming alcohol (Sargent,2019). The condition leads to damage of

the liver and results in a buildup of inflammation, fats, and scaring. These conditions are fatal

and are the primary cause of chronic liver disease.

Chronic liver disease leads to deterioration of liver function for more than six months.

Such deteriorating functions include synthesizing clotting factors and other proteins,

excretion of bile, and harmful detoxifying products on metabolism in the body (Kelly,2019).

This condition leads to destruction, inflammation, and regeneration of the liver parenchyma

resulting in cirrhosis and fibrosis. On the other hand, cirrhosis of the liver is the late stage of

liver disease which is usually complicated (Sargent,2019). Under this condition, the liver

tissues are replaced with scar tissue, and at this point, the liver is permanently damaged.

Question 2.

In the US, the recent estimate of alcohol consumption states that adults' annual per

capita alcohol consumption is about 8.7 liters. This level of consumption is estimated to be

three-fourths of an ounce per day. While binge drinking is common in the United States,

many people misuse alcohol even to become addicts (Bashir, 2020). Within a very short

period, what starts as one drink can turn out very quickly.
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Every year millions of students are affected by alcoholism as this is a period where

most students want to experiment with alcohol. To some degree, roughly 80% of college

students consume alcohol in the US.an estimate of 50% of college students are is recorded to

be involved in binge drinking, which involves consuming too much alcohol in too little time

(McLinn,2020). In college, binge drinking can result in long-term consequences as this type

of alcohol abuse results in poor decision-making. Alcohol abuse can affect students socially,

mentally, academically, and professionally.

Excessive use of alcohol can result in tolling the student's performance academically.

To some extent, drinking becomes a priority over completing assignments, attending classes,

and studying for exams, leading to poor performance in class. Alcohol consumption can

increase injury chances, ranging from minor injuries to concussions and broken bones. Also,

since alcohol is linked to lowered personal inhibition, students become vulnerable to physical

assault (Kelly,2019). In addition, such people become vulnerable to committing a crime. Like

in any other person, excessive use of alcohol leads to chronic liver disease among students

since the liver is unable to break down the excess alcohol.

Question 3.

Before working on this assignment, I was aware that chronic liver disease was rising

as I recently read it in an article I was working on. I noted that it is a condition affecting

mostly young people. This can be attributed to the high use of alcohol among school-going

students, especially college students trying to experiment on various substances in their lives.

By availing the astringe statistics on the chronic liver disease to the young adults, it would

reduce the consumption since they would take it seriously. Mass education needs to be done

alongside incorporating drug-related subjects in schools to reduce alcohol and other

substances in school.
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References

Bashir, S. (2020). Young People Living with Liver Disease: A Qualitative Study of

Experiences of Transitions.

Kelly, D. (2019). Liver Disease in the young adult with cystic fibrosis. Clinical Liver

Disease, 4(4), 84-85. https://doi.org/10.1002/cld.414

McLinn, V. A. (2020). Biliary atresia in adolescents and young adults. Clinical Liver

Disease, 2(5), 197-199. https://doi.org/10.1002/cld.252

Sargent, S. (2019). Liver Diseases: An Essential Guide for Nurses and Health Care

Professionals. Wiley-Blackwell.