Increased drinking during the Covid pandemic may have fuelled a sharp rise in deaths from diseases caused by alcohol, data for England suggests.
According to a report by Public Health England that looked at alcohol consumption and harm during the pandemic, the number of deaths in England from diseases caused by drinking increased by 20% in 2020 compared with 2019.
There was a rise of almost 11% in deaths from mental and behavioural disorders caused by alcohol, an increase of more than 15% in deaths from alcohol poisoning, and an almost 21% rise in deaths from alcoholic liver disease, the latter condition accounting for more than 80% of the alcohol-specific deaths. By contrast, deaths from alcoholic liver disease rose by about 3% between 2018 and 2019.
“Before the pandemic, there were already increased alcohol-related hospital admissions and deaths. The pandemic seems to have accelerated these trends,” the report notes.