Alcohol-Related Deaths Rose to Nearly 500 per Day During COVID-19 Pandemic: CDC

A recent Health Canada survey found Canadians support the labeling of beer, wine, and liquor with a health warning describing the known link between alcohol consumption and health risks. Johnny Green/PA

Deaths associated with excessive alcohol consumption surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, averaging about 488 per day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The average number of alcohol-related deaths increased by 29 percent, to about 178,307 deaths in 2020–2021, from about 137,927 during 2016–2017, the CDC stated in a report published on Feb. 29.

The rise in alcohol-related deaths hit all age groups during the five-year period, although the percentage increase in the number of deaths was larger among women (35 percent) than men (27 percent).

“Deaths from causes fully attributable to alcohol use have increased during the past 2 decades in the United States, particularly from 2019 to 2020, concurrent with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it stated.

The report indicates a nearly 23 percent increase in alcohol-related deaths from 2018–2019 to 2020–2021, a fourfold rise compared with the previous 5 percent increase observed from 2016–2017 to 2018–2019.

“During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021, policies were widely implemented to expand alcohol carryout and delivery to homes, and places that sold alcohol for off-premise consumption (e.g., liquor stores) were deemed as essential businesses in many states (and remained open during lockdowns),” the agency stated.

General delays in seeking medical attention—including avoidance of emergency departments for alcohol-related conditions such as stress, loneliness, social isolation, and mental health conditions—might also have contributed to the increase in deaths from excessive alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

The CDC stated that evidence-based alcohol policies, such as reducing the number of places selling alcohol and increasing alcohol taxes, could help reduce alcohol-attributable death rates.

An employee wearing a face mask rings up a customer's alcohol purchase at the Local Market Foods store in Chicago on April 8, 2020. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

“We know that there’s a lot of evidence about what works to prevent excessive drinking and to reduce alcohol-related harm. But the strategies that we know work are often underused in the U.S.,” study author Dr. Marissa Esser told CBS News.

“Making alcohol less accessible and less available by having fewer places that sell it, or spreading out the number of places that are selling alcohol can help to create environments that support people’s choice to drink less.”

Alcohol-Related Deaths Surged Among Women

A study published in JAMA Network on July 28, 2023, found that although males historically were nearly three times more likely to die from alcohol-related conditions than females, women are starting to catch up.

Between 2018 and 2020, the researchers found that women’s mortality rate increased by 14.7 percent, while the mortality rate among men increased by 12.5 percent.

From 2012 to 2020, the mortality rate among women 65 and older increased by 6.7 percent per year, compared with 5.2 percent among men in the same age range.

The study found that women’s mortality rate increased by 1 percent annually from 1999 to 2007. It climbed to 4.3 percent annually from 2007 to 2018 and surged even more in recent years.

The study did not address why alcohol-related deaths in women are rising, but the researchers pointed to the changing patterns of alcohol consumption among women.

“Women are now drinking alcohol at higher amounts and frequencies than in the past, likely due to the normalization of alcohol use for female individuals in society,” according to the study.

Women are also more susceptible to the effects of alcohol, according to the researchers. For example, women’s bodies have lower amounts of the enzyme needed to break down alcohol and lower water content, which means they don’t metabolize alcohol as quickly as men. This can lead to prolonged exposure and greater organ damage over time.

Consuming alcohol, in general, increases the risk of certain types of cancer, such as mouth, pharynx, and larynx cancers; esophageal cancer (squamous cell carcinoma); and breast cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International, a nonprofit dedicated to cancer prevention research.

Jane Nguyen and George Citroner contributed to this report.