Complications from alcohol use are on the rise among women

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A new study adds to the growing body of evidence showing that increased alcohol consumption among women is linked to increased mortality and disease. report, Published Friday in JAMA Health Forumexamined insurance claims data from 2017 to 2021 for more than 14 million Americans ages 15 and older. Researchers found that during the first year and a half of the coronavirus pandemic, women aged 40 to 64 experienced severe alcohol-related complications, including cardiovascular and liver disease and severe withdrawal symptoms. They found that the chances of doing so were significantly higher than expected.

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Alcohol consumption in the United States is generally Increased over the past 20 yearssaid Dr. Timothy Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria. Dr. Naimi was a co-author on one of the papers. recent papers The number of deaths from excessive alcohol consumption in the United States increased by nearly 30 percent between 2016 and 2021.

Although men still die more often than women from alcohol-related causes, The number of deaths among women is increasing at an accelerating pace. “The gap is closing,” said Dr. Bryant Shuey, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of the new study.

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The study looked at serious health problems associated with drinking, including alcohol-related liver and heart disease, inflammation of the stomach lining that causes bleeding, pancreatitis, alcohol-related mood disorders, and withdrawal symptoms. The researchers compared insurance claims data for these complications with the expected incidence based on the historical prevalence of these complications.

Almost every month from April 2020 to September 2021, women aged 40 to 64 experienced complications. Alcohol-related liver disease When fat begins to accumulate in the liver at a higher rate than researchers predicted, a variety of conditions can develop. As the damage from drinking continues, scar tissue builds up in the liver, leading to a later stage of the disease called cirrhosis. Some people with alcohol-related liver disease develop severe liver inflammation known as alcohol-related hepatitis.

The incidence of alcohol-related complications during the pandemic was also higher than expected among men aged 40 to 64, but the increase was not statistically significant. But “men are not out of the woods” and still face health risks, Dr Shuey said.

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The study only looked at data up to September 2021. Katherine Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who was not involved in the latest study, said alcohol consumption may continue to increase among women, and this pattern could contribute to further health gains. He said he expected that. problem.

And because the study was based on insurance claims, Dr. Shuey said the study tells an incomplete story. For example, if a person treated in the emergency room for pancreatic inflammation does not disclose a drinking history, the case may not be registered as an alcohol-related complication.

“The truth is, we're probably underestimating this,” he says.

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These findings highlight how patterns of heavy drinking can lead to serious health consequences. Over the past decade, the number of American women, especially middle-aged women, has increased. Report binge drinking, Dr. Keyes said.

“It used to be thought that men between the ages of 18 and 25 were the most likely to drink or binge drink,” said Aaron White, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. said. Binge drinking now occurs more often between the ages of 26 and 34, and is becoming more common among women. “Everything is just on the back burner,” he says.

Demographic changes may also help explain why women drink at higher rates, Dr. Keyes said. Because women tend to marry and have children later than in past decades, they spend more time in what Dr. Keyes calls “high-risk periods for heavy drinking.”

“People don't understand the real health effects of these heavy drinking patterns,” she added.

These symptoms take time to develop and often appear between the ages of 40 and 60. Complications can occur after “years of heavy, sustained alcohol consumption,” Dr. Shuey said.

These long-term increases in alcohol consumption predate the pandemic, and may have put women at increased risk for health problems even before COVID-19. But increased drinking during lockdown may have exacerbated these problems or introduced new complications, especially as women bear the brunt of family responsibilities, Dr White said. Ta.

Even if research mount Regarding the harms of alcohol, Dr. White said many people may have a hard time changing their habits.

“If you've been drinking wine with dinner every night for the past 20 years, a headline probably won't make you throw it away,” he says. “I think it’s going to be a slow culture change.”