Serum lipids and lipoproteins during abstinence after heavy alcohol consumption in chronic alcoholics

Serum lipids, liver function tests and liver histology were studied during a withdrawal period in sixty-one male chronic alcoholics with a well-documented earlier clinical history. In these alcoholics with a mean daily ethanol consumption of 340 g during the débauche, the FFA were initially high and decreased during the first week, concomitantly with an increase in serum triglycerides. 38% of the patients had a type IV hyperlipoproteinaemia with elevated serum triglycerides still after 17 days of abstinence. 51% were normolipidaemic at that time. The cholesterol content in the alpha-lipoproteins were initially elevated and normalized during the first week of abstinence. No relationships were observed between serum lipids and liver function tests or degree of liver steatosis or alcohol consumption. The present findings stress the importance of stating the duration of abstinence in studies of biochemical changes after withdrawal.