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Alcohol abuse has numerous adverse effects on health, including liver disease, pancreatitis, cardiomyopathy, encephalopathy, and impaired immunity. Now, researchers have prospectively analyzed the effects of alcohol abuse on the etiology and severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Participants were 1347 consecutive patients hospitalized for CAP at a Barcelona hospital between October 1996 and November 2001.
The patients were grouped by alcohol consumption: alcoholic (AL; during the year before admission, daily alcohol intake >80 g [>60 g for women]; n=128), ex-alcoholic (EA; ≥1 year of abstinence; n=54), and nonalcoholic (NA; daily alcohol consumption ≤24 g [≤12 g for women], and no history of alcohol abuse; n=1165).
Most patients (77…