Medical and Social Problems

The admitted incidence of alcoholism in the males was 27 cases (75 %) and in the females 15 cases (48%). The actual incidence of alcoholism is almost certainly higher than this as many alcoholic patients, particularly women, are very anxious to conceal the truth. In Boston, Massachusetts, the proportion of alcoholic cirrhosis was given by Garceau and Chlamers3 as 83% (87% of males and 68% of females) and it has been considered that the aetiological factors of cirrhosis in the U.S.A. differ from those in Britain. But my experience in Liverpool is closer to that reported from Boston than from London and Birmingham. It would be interesting to hear the observations of physicians in other regions of this country.-I am, etc.,