WSU study shows sharp rise in severe, alcohol-related liver injury during pandemic

SEATTLE — A boom in alcohol sales during the pandemic appears to have had dire consequences for some as hospital admissions for alcohol-related hepatitis, a life-threatening liver inflammation, increased dramatically, according to a study of national hospitalization data. Researchers found increasing cases of alcohol-related liver illness from 2016 through 2020, but the rise was particularly pronounced the year COVID-19 arrived in the U.S. in 2020, which saw a 12.4% increase over 2019 levels. It was worse in younger patients, ages 18 to 44, a group that had a nearly 20% jump in hospital admissions for alcohol-related hepatitis. The consequences were also more severe as in-hospital deaths increased by 24.6% in 2020 compared to 2019. While the problem has been noted anecdotally and in regional studies, these findings show the growing problem on a national scale, said Dr. Kris Kowdley, professor at Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and senior author of the study published in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.