Ending stigmatizing language in alcohol and liver disease: A liver societies’ statement

Liver diseases related to health behaviors are emerging as the most common causes of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis world-wide. Harmful alcohol use can culminate in different manifestations of liver disease from steatosis to a severe acute steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Historically, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease and alcoholism were the terms used to describe alcohol-related liver conditions and the disorder associated with their development, respectively. These terms, we now realize, are hugely stigmatizing.