NEW YORK (AP) — The number of deaths directly attributable to alcohol rose nearly 30% in the US during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new government data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already said that the total number of such deaths is on the rise in 2020 and 2021. Two reports from the CDC this week gave more details about which groups have the highest death rates and which states see the highest numbers.
“Alcohol is often overlooked” as a public health problem, said Marissa Esser, who leads the CDC’s alcohol program. “But it’s a major preventable cause of death.”
A report released Friday focused on more than a dozen types of “alcohol-induced” deaths that were entirely attributable to drinking. Examples include alcohol-induced liver or pancreatic failure, alcohol poisoning, withdrawal symptoms, and certain other illnesses. Last year there were more than 52,000 such deaths, up from 39,000 in 2019.
The rate of such deaths had risen by 7% or less per year in the two decades before the pandemic.
In 2020, they rose by 26%, to about 13 deaths per 100,000 Americans. That’s the highest percentage recorded in at least 40 years, said the study’s lead author, Merianne Spencer.
Such deaths are 2 1/2 times more common in men than women, but rose for both in 2020, the study found. The rate remained highest for people aged 55 to 64, but rose dramatically for certain other groups, including a 42% jump in women aged 35 to 44.
The second report, published earlier this week in JAMA Network Open, looked at a wider range of deaths that may be associated with drinking, such as motor vehicle accidents, suicides, falls and cancers.
More than 140,000 of that broader category of alcohol-related deaths occur annually, based on data from 2015 to 2019, the researchers said. CDC researchers say about 82,000 of those deaths result from over-drinking over a long period of time and 58,000 from causes related to acute intoxication.
The study found that as many as 1 in 8 deaths among U.S. adults ages 20 to 64 were alcohol-related deaths. New Mexico was the state with the highest percentage of alcohol-related deaths, 22%. Mississippi had the lowest, 9%
Excessive drinking has been linked to chronic dangers such as liver cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. Drinking by pregnant women can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth or birth defects. And health officials say alcohol is a factor in as many as a third of serious falls among the elderly.
It is also a risk to others from driving under the influence or alcohol-induced violence. Surveys suggest that more than half of the alcohol sold in the US is consumed during episodes of binge drinking.
Even before the pandemic, US alcohol consumption was on the riseand Americans drank more than when the ban was introduced. But deaths may have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began for a variety of reasons, including people with alcohol-related illnesses who have had more trouble getting medical care, Esser said.
She added that the research points to the need to look at steps to reduce alcohol consumption, including raising alcohol taxes and adopting measures that limit where people can buy beer, wine and spirits.
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The Associated Press Health & Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.