The COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in alcohol problems particularly for young adults according to a new study.
In the Cedars-Sinai study, published this month in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, investigators used predictive modeling to compare expected—also called projected—alcohol use disorder mortality rates to actual rates. They found that alcohol use disorder-related mortality rates increased among all ages and sexes during the pandemic.
Yee Hui Yeo, MD, MSc, lead author of the study, said: “During the first few months of the pandemic, my colleagues and I saw increased numbers of patients being treated for acute alcohol use-related conditions in the intensive care unit and throughout the medical center.
