https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220516124005.htm

In the study, published this month in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, investigators used predictive modeling to compare expected -- also called projected -- alcohol use disorder mortality rates to actual rates. They found that alcohol use disorder-related mortality rates increased among all ages and sexes during the pandemic.

"During the first few months of the pandemic, my colleagues and I saw increased numbers of patients being treated for acute alcohol use-related conditions in the intensive care unit and through out the medical center," said Yee Hui Yeo, MD, MSc, lead author of the study. "We also became aware of reports from single centers of elevated alcohol use-related complications. That prompted us to think, maybe this is a significant public health crisis."