Alcohol abuse and the liver disease that results from it both accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, a review of the research shows.
When the virus hit, many people lost their jobs, while many more lost the benefit of face-to-face contact with friends, family, and colleagues. Researchers found a link between subjective feelings of distress and harmful alcohol use. Alcohol sales in the United States shot up from $7.1 billion in 2019 to $9.5 billion in 2020, a trend that was mirrored in many other countries.
For fear of COVID-19, some patients avoided treatment for liver disease, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, but hospitals still saw more patients with related diagnoses. At three hospitals in Fresno, California, admissions for alcohol-associatedNationwide during that time, deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease increased by one quarter, and transplants for severe alcohol-associated hepatitis increased by one half. Liver donations decreased, and waiting lists lengthened.
Alcohol use disorder and alcohol-associated liver disease affected COVID-19 as well, increasing the risk for infection, inflammation, and mortality. At the same time, the prevalence of alcohol-associated hepatitis increased disproportionately among Black people and women, and the increase in alcohol-associated liver disease disproportionately affected Indigenous men and women, Asian men, and Hispanic women.