Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 3;327(17):1704-1706.
doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.4308.

Alcohol-Related Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aaron M White  1 , I-Jen P Castle  1 , Patricia A Powell  1 , Ralph W Hingson  1 , George F Koob  1
Affiliations

Alcohol-Related Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aaron M White et al. JAMA. .

Abstract

This study uses mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics to assess whether alcohol-related deaths increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Powell reported Pfizer stock ownership outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.. Monthly Alcohol-Related Deaths Among People 16 Years and Older
The dotted vertical lines indicate important dates in the US at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths increased in the spring of 2020 as the pandemic unfolded, and the number of deaths remained elevated in the first half of 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Koob GF, Powell P, White A. Addiction as a coping response: hyperkatifeia, deaths of despair, and COVID-19. Am J Psychiatry. 2020;177(11):1031-1037. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20091375 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moon AM, Curtis B, Mandrekar P, Singal AK, Verna EC, Fix OK. Alcohol-associated liver disease before and after COVID-19-an overview and call for ongoing investigation. Hepatol Commun. 2021;5(9):1616-1621. doi:10.1002/hep4.1747 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sharma RA, Subedi K, Gbadebo BM, Wilson B, Jurkovitz C, Horton T. Alcohol withdrawal rates in hospitalized patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(3):e210422. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0422 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. White AM, Castle IP, Hingson RW, Powell PA. Using death certificates to explore changes in alcohol-related mortality in the United States, 1999 to 2017. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2020;44(1):178-187. doi:10.1111/acer.14239 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Overdose death rates. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Accessed February 15, 2022. https://nida.nih.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

MeSH terms