Alcohol-associated Liver disease

Historically, alcohol has disproportionately affected men. But targeted advertising and changes in societal norms have led to an upsurge in alcohol-related diseases and deaths among women.

From 2020 to 2022, the state observed a 1.4% increase in liver-related deaths compared with the years before the pandemic. During that period, alcohol sales also increased.

The number of people dying from alcoholic liver disease rose dramatically in the last decade, sped by the COVID pandemic.

Two CDC reports provided further details on which groups have the highest death rates and which states are seeing the largest numbers. One of the studies focused on more than a dozen kinds of "alcohol-induced" deaths that were wholly blamed on drinking.

Many transplant centers require people with alcohol-related liver disease to remain sober for half a year, before becoming eligible for the waiting list for a liver. But this thinking may be changing.

Some doctors are seeing a disturbing spike in lethal alcoholic liver disease, especially among young women. The recent trend has been supercharged, they say, by the pandemic's isolation and pressures.

An estimated 17,000 Americans are on the waiting list for a liver transplant, and there’s a strong chance that many of them have alcohol-associated liver…