Alcohol often has harmful interactions with most of the prescribed medications. Therefore, patients are traditionally advised to avoid alcohol because it might increase the risk for toxicity, beyond that associated with the medication itself. However, a recent study demonstrated that the risk for abnormal liver blood tests was very low in those rheumatoid arthritis patients- treated with methotrexate- who had weekly alcohol intakes of 14 units or less. These research findings indicate that moderate alcohol intake is relatively safe in patients if liver blood test monitoring is performed.
How often do you discuss drug-alcohol interactions with your patients? Which laboratory tests do you prefer for monitoring alcohol induced drug toxicity in your patients? Source: Humphreys JH et al. Quantifying the hepatotoxic risk of alcohol consumption in patients with rheumatoid arthritis taking…
