Term: Chronic Liver Disease

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Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2018-01-31

Definition:

A variety of conditions fall under the category of chronic liver disease. These include:

• Chronic hepatitis (i.e. Hepatitis C )
  
• Alcoholic liver disease, involving:
  
  • Fibrosis (early stage of liver scarring)
    
  • Cirrhosis (advanced stage liver scarring)
    
  • Hepatic failure (loss of liver function, often due to cirrhosis)

Causes of chronic liver disease vary from viral agents (i.e. Hepatitis C) to poison, drugs or excessive alcohol use. Symptoms vary from abdominal and leg swelling, easing bruising, changes in stool and urine colour, or yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice). Symptoms may not be present in some cases. Diagnosis occurs through imaging tests and liver function tests (measuring levels of certain proteins, enzymes and substances) to assess liver damage.

See Medline® – Health Topics – Liver Diseases for more clinical information.

Related concepts 

• Substance Use Disorders / Substance Abuse - Measuring Prevalence

Related terms 

• Hepatitis
• Hepatitis C

Term used in 

• Myers RP, Shaheen AA, Fong A, Wan AF, Swain MG, Hilsden RJ, Sutherland L, Quan H. Validation of coding algorithms for the identification of patients with primary military cirrhosis using administrative data. Can J Gastroenterol 2010;24(3):175-182. [Abstract] (View)
• Pang JX, Ross E, Borman MA, Zimmer S, Kaplan GG, Heitman SJ, Swain MG, Burak KW, Quan H, Myers RP. Validation of coding algorithms for the identification of patients hospitalized for alcoholic hepatitis using administrative data. BMC Gastroenterol 2015;15:116. [Abstract] (View)