Binge drinking could lead to a major increase in liver disease over the next two decades unless current trends are reversed, U.K. health officials warn.

The Associated Press reported Aug. 6 that Britain's pub culture is setting up the nation for a possible explosion in cirrhosis cases. "There's been a frightening increase in alcoholic liver disease in recent years," said Dr. Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians.

Cirrhosis death rates in England and Wales have risen from 8.3 per 100,000 men in 1987 to 17.5 per 100,000 in 2002. In Scotland, the rate rose from 16.9 per 100,000 to 45.2 per 100,000 during the same period. The rate in the U.S. was 9 per 100,000 in 2004.

"Deaths from cirrhosis (in Britain) are increasing out of proportion with anywhere else in the world," said Dr. Rajiv Jalan of London's University College Hospital.

Inexpensive alcohol and easy access have been blamed for the problem, as well as British attitudes toward excessive drinking. At British pubs, for example, it is customary for every member of a social group to buy a round of drinks. Also, unlike in other countries, drinking in Britain usually doesn't go hand in hand with eating. "We need to understand what drives our particular drinking culture," said Gilmore. "Here, it tends to be more binge drinking, which can be very dangerous."

Per-capita alcohol consumption in Britain doubled between 1960 and 2004. Doctors are now treating men and women in their 20s and 30s for cirrhosis, a disease that once affected mainly men in their 60s.