Women live longer than men, and this is usually true even among those infected with hepatitis C. But female heavy drinkers die at about the same age as men who abuse alcohol and have the disease, the Psychiatric Times reported Jan. 25.

Both men and women who drank heavily and had hepatitis C died, on average, a decade sooner than they should have, compared to those who drank moderately or abstained from alcohol use. Researchers noted that the study demonstrates that alcohol has different effects on men and women with hepatitis C and that drinking speeds up the fatal progression of the disease.

The mean death age for female heavy drinkers with hepatitis C was 49.1 years, compared to 61 among the light drinkers and nondrinkers. Among men, the mean death rate was 50 for heavy drinkers, compared to 55.1 for the moderate drinkers and abstainers.

"While [hepatitis C infection] alone showed a disproportionate effect on premature death in males, heavy alcohol use presented a stronger effect in females, resulting in a 'catching-up' effect that diminished the gender difference in age of [hepatitis] death," the study authors wrote.

Study author Chiung M. Chen and colleagues examined more than 7 million mortality records to reach their conclusions.

The study appears in the February 2007 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.