Alcoholic liver disease (ALD): a new domain for prevention efforts.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a leading cause of death; yet relatively little has been written about it in the health behavior research literature. This paper will describe ALD, what factors predict ALD including findings from analyses of the 1998 state of California and Los Angeles County hospital discharge data, and possible means of preventing this disease. It is hoped that new interest among health behavior researchers and practitioners will be stimulated.