Association among occupational class, alcohol consumption, and the risk of hospitalisations due to alcoholic liver...

This study aimed to identify the occupational class and specific occupations associated with hospitalisations due to alcohol-related liver disease and alcoholic liver cirrhosis, based on the distribution of alcohol consumption.

This matched case-control study used a nationwide, multicentre, inpatient dataset from the Inpatient Clinico-Occupational Database of the Rosai Hospital Group in Japan. A total of 5,490 cases with alcohol-related liver disease and 10,961 controls were included in this study. Participants were categorised according to occupational class (blue-collar, service, professional, and manager) and industrial sector (blue-collar, service, and white-collar). Professionals in white-collar industries were set as the reference group. We calculated the odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) of alcohol-related liver disease and alcoholic liver cirrhosis using conditional logistic regression models.

Blue-collar workers and service workers in both the service and blue-collar industries had a higher risk of hospitalisations due to alcohol-related liver disease: The ORs (95% CIs) for alcohol-related liver disease were 1.33 (1.15-1.55) for blue-collar workers in the blue-collar industry, 1.21 (1.03-1.42) for service workers in the blue-collar industry, 1.23 (1.01-1.51) for blue-collar workers in the service industry, and 1.47 (1.25-1.72) for service workers in the service industry. Among service workers, food and drink preparatory workers and customer service workers had a higher risk of hospitalisations due to alcohol-related liver disease and alcoholic liver cirrhosis compared to professionals (reference group), with ORs of 2.28 (1.81-2.89) and 2.18 (1.64-2.89), respectively, for alcohol-related liver disease. Among blue-collar workers, skeleton construction workers had a higher risk of hospitalisations due to alcohol-related liver disease, with an OR of 2.31 (1.63-3.3). Workers in occupations with a high risk of hospitalisations due to alcohol-related liver disease had higher percentages of alcohol consumption compared to professionals.

Occupational class and specific jobs were associated with the risk of hospitalisations due to alcohol-related liver disease and alcoholic liver cirrhosis, with alcohol consumption patterns contributing to this increased risk.