By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 2, 2026 (HealthDay News) — A new, easy-to-use blood test can identify when a person’s liver disease is being driven by too much drinking, researchers say.
With the test, researchers can estimate whether a person with fatty liver disease might have alcohol-related liver damage, researchers recently reported Feb. 25 in the journal Gastroenterology.
“This new score gives clinicians a simple and accessible way to uncover hidden alcohol-related liver injury,” said senior researcher Dr. Rohit Loomba, a professor of medicine at the University of California-San Diego.
“By improving how we classify liver disease, we can help patients achieve better long-term health outcomes,” he said in a news release.
Fatty liver disease affects nearly 1 in 3 adults worldwide, researchers said in background notes.
A growing number of people are developing fatty liver disease as a result of obesity, and drinking can make their liver damage even worse.
However, patients often downplay how much they drink when talking to their doctor, making it hard to assess whether alcohol could be driving their liver damage, researchers said.
For the new study, researchers combined five standard lab values that are already collected during most visits to a primary care doctor or a liver specialist.
“Our goal was to build something practical,” said lead researcher Dr. Federica Tavaglione, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California-San Diego. “These lab values are already part of standard care, so (the test) can be implemented immediately without adding cost or complexity for clinics.”
To develop and validate this test, researchers analyzed more than 500 people living in San Diego and about 1,800 people in Sweden.
Results showed that the test can accurately highlight people whose liver disease might be affected by too much drinking.
These patients could then undergo another, more accurate alcohol test, to confirm the first test’s results. This more accurate test is costly or unavailable in many settings, so having a screening tool will help doctors use it more judiciously, researchers said.
More information
The Cleveland Clinic has more on fatty liver disease.
SOURCE: University of California-San Diego, news release, Feb. 25, 2026
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