(CNN) — The surge in stress-related drinking and alcohol-related deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has not declined as much as Dr. Brian Lee, a transplant hepatologist at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, had hoped. . .
“We were hoping that alcohol use would go down, but I work as a hepatologist and the reality is that we've definitely seen an increase in patients with liver failure. This is a truly extreme clinical condition. “I think excessive alcohol consumption is the cause,” Lee said. “So we've definitely seen a surge due to the pandemic. If you look at my clinic and my hospital, at least from my experience, the symptoms are not going away.”
A new study led by Lee and published in the journal Nov. 12. Annual Report of Internal Medicine, found that the spike in alcohol consumption among people in the United States in 2020 continued to increase slightly in 2021 and 2022.
The study used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's National Health Interview Survey and compared it to 2018 as a baseline. The survey includes approximately 25,000 respondents from 2018, approximately 31,000 respondents from 2020, and approximately 27,000 respondents from 2022.
Increases in alcohol use were seen among both men and women and across all racial and ethnic groups. In 2022, 69.3% of Americans reported some alcohol use in the previous year, up slightly from 69% in 2020 and 66.34% in 2018.
Furthermore, the proportion of heavy drinkers increased from 6.13% in 2020 and 5.1% in 2018 to almost 6.3% of those surveyed in 2022.
“The findings are alarming, but not surprising,” said Dr. Jagpreet Chatwal, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Technology Assessment Institute, who was not involved in the study. “Alcohol consumption has steadily increased in recent years.”
White Americans showed the biggest change in being heavy drinkers, with about 7.3% claiming to be heavy drinkers, up from about 5.7% in 2018 and 7.1% in 2020.
Women were also more likely to be heavy drinkers, with 6.45% reporting being a heavy drinker compared to 6.1% of men.
Li says consuming large amounts of alcohol does not pose any increased health risks. “As a woman, drinking more than one drink a day can increase your risk of liver disease.”
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Heavy drinking for women was defined as 4 or more drinks per day or 8 or more drinks per week. For men, it is defined as 5 or more drinks per day or 15 or more drinks per week.
The institute considers a drink to be about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is the equivalent of about 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of spirits.
Although researchers couldn't say exactly why the American adults surveyed were drinking so much alcohol, Lee has a few hypotheses.
“They have had a hugely disruptive impact on their careers related to the pandemic, losing their jobs and losing their daily lives. Some of them have young children,” he said. “We know that alcohol is used as a coping mechanism for stress. What starts as a habit can become an addiction or a substance disorder.”
Chatwal agreed, adding that life stressors such as financial worries, work pressure and other mental health challenges may be contributing to increased alcohol consumption.
“This trend is further exacerbated by increased stress and burnout in society,” he said. “The normalization of a drinking culture also contributes to the rise in excessive consumption. Unfortunately, most people only recognize the damage caused by alcohol in the later stages of liver disease, when treatment options are limited. ”
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, death due to alcohol use Cases in the United States have skyrocketed during the pandemic, topping 49,000 in 2020. At the height of the pandemic, the number averaged about 40,000. 488 deaths per day Caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It increased by more than 29% from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
Lee believes research results alone are no longer enough to stop people from overdosing.
“Studies have shown that alcohol-related liver transplants have increased five-fold over the past 20 years, and alcohol deaths due to liver disease have increased sharply,” he said. . “Now, intervention. What interventions are effective in actually saving lives, and what policies can we put in place to stop the surge?”
Chatwal recommends imposing heavier taxes and limiting retail sales hours to reduce access to alcohol.
Lee and Chhatwal also suggest that communicating more and better messages about the risks of overconsumption could help counter these effects.
“People need to know what harmful alcohol consumption is and what it does to the body,” Lee said. “Health care professionals need to speak openly and without prejudice to patients about alcohol use. Alcohol has been implicated in more than 200 diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and pancreatic disease; Both patients and doctors need to be aware of this.''
CNN Wire
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