Death rates from alcoholic liver disease jumped during pandemic | Health News from the Healthiest Communities

By Phillip Reese | KFF Health News

Excessive alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have increase in alcoholic liver disease deaths to such an extent that the disease has killed more Californians than car accidents Or breast cancerfound an analysis from KFF Health News.

Lockdowns have made people isolated, depressed and anxious, leading some to increase their alcohol consumption. Alcohol sales have increased during the pandemic, with big leaps in spirits consumption.

Although this has led to an increase in all kinds of alcohol-related deathsthe number of Californians who died of alcoholic liver disease soared, with 14,209 deaths between 2020 and 2022according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alcoholic liver disease is the most common cause alcohol-related deaths nationwide. In Californiathe death rate from the disease over the past three years was 25% higher than that of the three years before the pandemic. The rate peaked at 13.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2021, nearly double the rate from two decades ago. Nationally, the rate reached 10 deaths per 100,000 population in the same year, compared to 7.3 per 100,000 in 2019 and 4.4 per 100,000 in 2006.

The disease is usually caused by years of heavy drinking, although it can sometimes occur after a short period of heavy drinking. There are often no symptoms until late in the illness, when weakness, confusion, and jaundice may occur.

Lee and other researchers have found a link between alcoholic liver disease and metabolic syndrome, a condition often characterized by excess body fat around the waist. Metabolic syndrome – often caused by poor diet and an inactive lifestyle – has increased across the country.

“Having metabolic syndrome, which is associated with obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, more than doubles your risk of having advanced liver disease at the same level of alcohol consumption,” Lee said.

Californians alcoholic liver disease kill most often are those who are between 55 and 74 years old. They make up about a quarter of adults in the state, but more than half of alcoholic liver disease deaths.

However, death rates among Californians ages 25 to 44 have roughly doubled in the past decade. About 2,650 Californians in this age group have died from the disease in the past three years, compared to 1,270 deaths from 2010 to 2012.

“People are drinking at earlier levels,” Lee said. “People develop obesity at a younger age.”

THE highest death rates alcoholic liver disease occur in rural eastern and northern California. In Humboldt Countyfor example, the death rate from alcoholic liver disease is more than double the statewide rate.

Jeremy Campbell, Managing Director of Waterfront Salvage Services in Eureka, said Humboldt County and other rural areas often lack the resources and facilities to deal with high rates of alcohol use disorders. His facility provides high-intensity residential services and uses medication to help people detox.

“Eureka’s other two hospital treatment centers are also at full capacity,” he said. “It’s just a situation where there just isn’t enough treatment.”

Campbell also pointed to the demographics of Humboldt County, which has a much higher proportion of white and Native American residents than the rest of the state. Alcoholic liver disease death rate in California are the highest among Native American and white residents.

Death rates have risen more among Native American, Latino, Asian and Black Californians over the past decade than among non-Latino white Californians, CDC data shows. Part of that is due to disparities in insurance coverage and access to care, Lee said. Also, Lee said, rates of metabolic syndrome rose faster in nonwhites than in whites. Racial health disparities are also manifested in different survival rates for black and white patients after liver transplants, he added.

The trend should continue. Julien projects a temporary drop in deaths because many people who would have died of the disease in 2022 or 2023 instead died earlier, after an increase in alcohol consumption during the pandemic, but that deaths will increase later as bad habits developed during the pandemic will begin to take a long-term toll.

“While people have increased their drinking during COVID-19, we now have more people who have initiated alcohol use disorder,” Julien said.