Study shows alcohol-linked liver deaths rising in women, young adults

Alcohol-related liver disease deaths are increasing rapidly among women and young adults, according to new research. 

Researchers from the Universities Havard, Stanford, and Southern California (USC) attributed the rise to higher drinking during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to increasing health problems like obesity and high blood pressure.

“The pandemic itself came under control, but the disparities that came with it continued and lingered,” said Dr. Nasim Maleki, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School.

The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, based on death certificates from across the US showed that between 2018 and 2022, deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) rose nearly 9 per cent a year. Between 2006 and 2018, ALD deaths stood at 3.5 per cent per year.

While men still had the highest number of deaths — 17 per 100,000 people — women`s death rates grew faster.

In 2022, eight of every 100,000 women died from ALD, up from three per 100,000 over the study period. Women`s death rates rose by about 4.3 per cent each year, nearly twice the rate of men.

One reason women may be affected more is because of how the body processes alcohol.

Biologically, women are less able to break down alcohol than men. That means even a little drinking can have a bigger impact on their organs over time, the researchers explained.

Further, young adults between ages 25 and 44 were found to have the biggest yearly increase in deaths from alcohol-associated hepatitis between 1999 and 2022.

“Alcohol-related cirrhosis takes time to develop. So we may not see the true extent of the consequences until five, probably 10, years from now, which is very concerning,” said Dr. Robert Wong, a liver specialist at Stanford University.

Recent research showed a spike in the number of annual alcohol deaths due to cancer.

Data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025 conference revealed that alcohol-related cancer deaths doubled — to 23,207 by 2021 from 11,896 in 1990.

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