Alcohol-Related Deaths Surge to Nearly 500 a Day, C.D.C. Says

Spikes of fatalities linked to drinking that began with the Covid pandemic were not an anomaly. An estimated 178,000 people died in 2021 from similar causes.

By Christina Jewett and Jan Hoffman Feb. 29, 2024

Alcohol-related deaths surged in the United States by nearly 30 percent in recent years, with roughly 500 Americans dying each day in 2021, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study chronicled a sustained spike in drinking during the Covid pandemic that continued to rise after the shock of the lockdowns of 2020. The incidence of alcohol-related deaths was higher in men, but among women the death rate shot up at a quicker pace.

“I think the results of this research are really alarming,” said Dr. Michael Siegel, who is a professor of public health at Tufts University School of Medicine and was not involved in the study. “It shows that there’s been a truly substantial increase in alcohol-related deaths over the last six years.”

Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The study found that deaths linked to alcohol in the United States increased in five years by 40,000. The toll is stark: About 178,000 people died in 2021 from excessive drinking, compared with 138,000 in 2016. During that period, the deaths rose by 27 percent among men and 35 percent among women.

Dr. Siegel attributed the surge possibly to people’s high stress levels during the pandemic alongside increased home-delivery services offered by the beverage industry. “Anytime you make something easier to acquire, you see an increase in use in response,” he said.

Researchers concluded that their estimates of alcohol-related deaths were very conservative, because the data only included active drinkers. In addition, deaths from several diseases, including tuberculosis and H.I.V./AIDS, for which excessive drinking is a risk factor, were not tabulated. But researchers did count 58 associated causes, including some deaths directly related to bingeing, like alcohol dependence syndrome or poisoning, and other conditions less directly related, including breast cancer, heart disease and car crashes.

The C.D.C. analysis adds more urgency to a recent survey showing increases in binge drinking among middle-aged adults. Among people 35 to 50, a cohort including millennials and Gen X, binge drinking was at its highest level recorded in decades. Twenty-nine percent reported consuming five or more drinks in a row in 2022, up from 23 percent in 2012.

That annual survey, called Monitoring the Future, which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, also found that the same age group reported record-high use of marijuana and hallucinogens.

The C.D.C. study notes that states and counties can try to reverse the death toll by promoting policies to increase alcohol prices, possibly through taxes, and by making products harder to obtain. The agency also suggested that mass media campaigns could encourage people to drink less.

Another suggestion: Train doctors how to ask patients about their alcohol use and make a plan with them to cut down.

Researchers are unearthing new evidence that suggests even a little bit of alcohol is bad for your health. The body of research is growing beyond the connection to law enforcement reports related to car crashes and homicides. Studies are now linking alcohol use to damage in a person’s DNA and how it can break down cells and cause mutations that develop cancer.

Even red wine, long believed to provide a health benefit, has lost its glow.

The findings, that drinking in moderation may not be a key to vibrant health, have emerged in recent years, as greater scrutiny of influential researchers’ ties to the alcohol industry have also come to light.

Christina Jewett covers the Food and Drug Administration, which means keeping a close eye on drugs, medical devices, food safety and tobacco policy. More about Christina Jewett

Jan Hoffman writes about behavioral health and health law. Her wide-ranging subjects include opioids, tribes, reproductive rights, adolescent mental health and vaccine hesitancy. More about Jan Hoffman

This article was originally published by The New York Times.

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