The Covid-19 pandemia threw a key in Dr. Peter Butt’s retirement plans. Not due to an influx in patients infected with the new virus, but because it turned to a medicine consulting service for hospitalized patients, and many more people needed their help with alcohol consumption.
“What we saw was … potentially a duplication of the number of people who need alcohol abstinence management or other services directly attributable to their alcohol consumption,” said Butt, a family doctor who also co -presided. Canada’s guide on alcohol and health.
Now, A new study The Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests that not only people consumed more alcohol, but there were more hospitalizations and deaths for that.
Between April 20, 2020 and December 2022, deaths totally attributable to alcohol increased approximately 18 percent, while hospitalizations increased approximately eight percent. The increases were higher in the first two years of pandemic, with deaths more than 24 percent, and hospitalizations of approximately 14 percent. That is 1,596 more deaths and 7,142 hospitalizations that may not have happened if it were not for alcohol consumption.
Preliminary data, Posted by statiCanada Stics In 2023, he already suggested that alcohol -related deaths increased during pandemic. This new study is a much more complete look at the data, observing long -term trends, as well as alcohol -related damage by revenue quintile, region and type of specific condition.
He even controlled different waves of the pandemic, said main author Dr. Yipu Shi, senior epidemiologist of the Canada Public Health Agency. She said that stressors related to pandemic, health restrictions and medical care vary between waves, in addition to the access and will of people to seek attention.
That may have had “variable effects on alcohol consumption and related damage,” he said.
Younger adults were more vulnerable to alcohol -related damage. The excess of deaths was higher among adults between 25 and 44 years, while excess hospitalizations were more pronounced among young women between 15 and 44 years, researchers suggest.
Alcoholic liver disease, which includes fat disease, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, was the main cause of hospitalizations and deaths, the authors say.
Some of the factors that promoted the increase: “stress, boredom, worsening of mental health, interrupted medical care and easier access to alcohol,” say the authors.
The trend decreased significantly by 2022, returning to pre-pandemics, SHI said, although excess mortality remained slightly higher. The decrease in alcohol -related damage was hand in hand with a decrease in alcohol sales in 2022, SHI said.
The results are consistent with the findings of other countries. In it USAThere was a 29 percent increase in alcohol -related deaths. Other study When observing 19 European countries, he found an 18 percent increase in such deaths.
A ‘self -inflicted wound’
“The magnitude of the increase for me was a bit surprising,” said Dr. Tim Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria, who did not participate in the study.
Naimi says that it is still not clear what the long -term effects of the increase in alcohol consumption will be during pandemic, such as the rates of some cancers caused by alcohol.
“Even for things like liver disease,” said “there is almost like a conveyor belt of people with different degrees of liver disease, for example, some of whom may have a damaged liver but have not yet received medical attention.”
Naimi calls some political decisions during the pandemic a “self -inflicted wound.”
“Alcohol declared an essential merchandise at the beginning in the 13 provinces and territories,” Naimi said.
Adam Sherk, a main scientist also with the Canadian center about the use and addiction of substances, says that it understands why liquor shops were considered an essential service: it was a moment of extreme stress, and removing alcohol would have been difficult.
At that time, some provinces also justified the measure by saying for those who have a serious alcohol abuse disorder, withdrawal symptoms could be serious and dangerous without medical supervision. Some praised this logic, but others criticized him.
But it did cause serious damage, for people, as well as for the medical care system, says Sherk.
“The raffles increased in our medical care system, because alcohol is responsible for many of those draws:” Resources that were very precious, since the hospitals were overwhelmed due to the propagation of COVID-19, Sherk said.
If there are future national pandemics or emergencies, says Sherk, this could serve as a lesson for those in charge of formulating policies, to adopt a more temperate approach to alcohol sales, such as reducing opening hours at alcohol points of sale.
“I am not saying that all the media for alcohol sales closed,” he said. “We could possibly do it in a slightly more balanced and protective way of our health.”
Another important way of addressing the factors that drive the increase in alcohol consumption? Expansion services that help people face difficult emotions and develop resilience, says Butt.
“Instead of thinking about the greatest access to alcohol as an essential service in times of national emergency,” he said, “we should be thinking about the importance of greater access to mental health services.”