ABSTRACT
Clinical and laboratory observations were made on 220 chronic alcoholics, regularly taking at least 150 g of alcohol daily. Haematological data concerning white blood cells, platelets and red cells counts, mean corpuscolar volume, hemoglobin and serum iron in these patients were compared with control values obtained from 150 healthy teetotal subjects. Hematological changes in chronic alcoholics were correlated with histological liver damages in transcutaneous needle-biopsies. No statistical differences were evident for white cells and platelets counts and for serum iron content; however, in chronic alcoholics, serum iron content showed a great dispersion around the mean. Mean corpuscolar volume (MCV) was significantly increased (P less than 0,001) in chronic alcoholics (even in those with a normal liver biopsy) but there was no significant difference in the degree and the incidence of macrocytosis between patients showing normal liver appearances or fatty changes only, and those showing more severe damage, i.e, acute alcoholic hepatitis (with or without steatosis), central hyaline-sclerosing necrosis and or hepatofibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma. No significant difference was seen between male and female alcoholics. Macrocytosis may be considered as an early marker for alcoholism but it does not correlate with the type of histological liver damage. Hemoglobin levels were significantly reduced in chronic alcoholics (P less than 0,01): the degree and incidence of anemia were more severe in those patients with advanced liver diseases and in female alcoholics. There is no statistically significant correlation between macrocytosis and anemia.
