Rising alcohol consumption during COVID-19 pandemic projected to cause more liver disease, deaths

Increased alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cause 100 additional deaths and 2,800 additional cases of liver failure by 2023, according to a team of researchers led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had many unintended consequences with unknown long-term impact,” a co-author of the study, Dr. Turgay Ayer, said in a news release.

According to research published in the journal Hepatology, the researchers also projected that a one-year increase in alcohol consumption during the pandemic will result in 8,000 additional deaths from alcohol-related liver disease. The investigators also projected 18,700 cases of liver failure and 1,000 cases of liver cancer by 2040.

“Alcoholic hepatitis has been our number one liver admission to the hospital since COVID caused so much isolation,” Dr. Douglas Dieterich, a professor of medicine and specialist in liver diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City who was not part of the study, told Fox News.

The study projected rates of liver disease and deaths associated with the increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic.

The investigators simulated liver disease trends and drinking trajectories in all U.S. adults by using data collected from a national survey of adults regarding their drinking habits, which showed that excessive drinking increased by 21% during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors compared these outcomes with a counter-factual scenario where there is no change in drinking patterns and no COVID-19 occurs, according to the study. – READ MORE