Alcohol-related hepatitis admissions increased 50% in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA

Abstract

Early reports suggest that alcohol misuse increased in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using retrospective data from Henry Ford Health System in Detroit MI—an area that experienced an early and severe COVID-19 outbreak—we investigated the impact of the pandemic on alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) in the summer of 2020 compared with the same period in 2016-2019. Both the number of ARLD admissions and the proportion of total admissions represented by ARLD patients increased significantly in 2020 compared with previous years. The number of ARLD admissions as a proportion of all hospitalizations was 50% higher in 2020 than in 2016-2019 (0.31% vs 0.21%; P =.0013); by September 2020, the number of admissions was 66% higher than previous years. Despite racial and geographical disparities in direct and indirect COVID-related stressors across the Detroit metropolitan area, the demographic profile of ARLD patients did not change compared with previous years.