Irish women are suffering an increasing number of health problems as a result of their consumption of alcohol, including liver cirrhosis, which in the past mainly affected older men, a leading doctor has warned.

According to Dr Orla Crosbie, a consultant hepatologist at Cork University Hospital, 20 years ago, cirrhosis of the liver was generally only seen in older Irish men. However now, 40% of her patients with this condition are female and many of these are young mothers with just a short time to live.

Dr Crosbie made her comments ahead of the conference, Girls, Women and Alcohol: the changing nature of female alcohol consumption in Ireland, which is being hosted by the charity, Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI).

"When I explain to these women that their liver is damaged as a result of their alcohol consumption, it's clear that they genuinely had no idea they were drinking so much alcohol, and so often, that it would contribute to serious health problems for them, or even lead to their death in their 30s or 40s," she commented.

She emphasised that these women are often not dependent on alcohol, ‘but have developed a regular drinking habit, often glasses of wine at home in the evenings'.

"This consumption has taken its toll over time. They genuinely don't realise how much they are drinking and this is not surprising when you consider that we have normalised heavy drinking and the many harms that come with it," Dr Crosbie said.

She believes that the widespread availability of cheap alcohol has a major role to play in the patterns of drinking currently being seen, particularly among teenage girls and young women.

"A study carried out recently in University College Cork found that on an average night out, females drank as much as males. Only 9% said knowing the health consequences would cause them to drink less, while four times as many (36%) said they would be influenced by the cost of alcohol," Dr Crosbie added.

Also speaking ahead of the conference, Canadian author and alcohol policy advocate, Ann Dowsett Johnston, who is also a recovering alcoholic, pointed out that women are ‘now starting to outpace men in terms of risky drinking'.

"I am the poster girl for the modern alcoholic - well educated, high achieving and high functioning. I used alcohol to decompress in a high-octane life. We are now witnessing a tragic rise in this sort of behaviour. Alcohol has become the modern woman's steroid, enabling her to do the heavy lifting in a complex world. The truth is it works - until it doesn't," commented Ms Dowsett Johnston, who has been sober for the last six years.

Meanwhile, AAI chief executive, Suzanne Costello, also warned about the impact of alcohol advertising and marketing to women.

"There has been a proliferation of alcohol products designed to appeal specifically to women in recent times and these are then targeted at women through extensive advertising and marketing campaigns, such as the sponsorship of TV programmes and events aimed at female audiences, while social and digital media have also become an increasingly important way for alcohol companies to reach and engage with women, particularly younger age groups," she noted,

She said that this has ‘contributed greatly to harmful drinking among women'.

"These products are often those high in alcohol content, such as wine and spirits. While beer is the most common type of alcohol consumed by Irish men of all ages, wine is the most common type of alcohol consumed by Irish women aged over 25, and spirits are the most common type of alcohol consumed by Irish women aged under 25," she explained.

Ms Costello also pointed out that alcohol is often marketed to women as a ‘risk-free, life-enhancing, stress-reducer', that is regularly linked with fun, beauty and fashion. However the reality is different.

"Irish women are increasingly suffering from alcohol harm, with rates of alcoholic liver disease rising rapidly and 12% of breast cancers in Ireland associated with alcohol consumption," she added.

The conference is taking place today (April 21) in the Westin Hotel in Dublin. For more information on AAI, click here