Minorities Hit Hardest by Alcohol-Related Deaths During First Years of COVID-19
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The surge in alcohol-related deaths during the peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionality hit certain racial and ethnic groups, including Black and Hispanic people as well as the American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
Overall, alcohol-induced fatalities increased by 26 percent among U.S. adults 25 and older from 2019 to 2020, when stay-at-home orders shuttered schools and offices across the country for much of the year, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
From February 2020 to January 2021, the peak months of the pandemic, alcohol-related fatalities more than doubled for American Indians and Alaska Natives, according to the study’s findings. Deaths tied to alcohol also increased 58 percent among Black people, 56 percent among Hispanic individuals, and 44 percent among Asians. By comparison, alcohol-related deaths among non-Hispanic whites increased 39 percent in the same time period.
Higher Rates of Unemployment, Fear of COVID-19, and Financial Strain All May Have Played a Role
“Racial and ethnic minority groups experienced disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, fear of COVID, and financial strain during the pandemic,” lead study author Hyunjung Lee, PhD, who completed the research while at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, said in a statement.
“We also know that American Indian and Alaska Native populations, Black Americans and Hispanics have historically experienced higher alcohol-induced mortality rates and so we thought it was important to examine how the pandemic might have affected these rates,” Dr. Lee said.
Increased Alcohol Consumption Can Contribute to Multiple Causes of Death
Previous research found that people drank more during the pandemic (especially women and non-Hispanic white individuals), and increased fatalities can follow higher consumption, says Henry Kranzler, MD, a psychiatry professor and director of the Center for Studies of Addiction at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
“The stress of the lockdowns, fear of illness, and loss of loved ones and friends are the kinds of stressors that cause an increase in consumption,” says Dr. Kranzler, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “With that increase in alcohol consumption, the likelihood of deaths due to liver disease, accidents, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions also increase.”
For racial and ethnic groups disproportionately impacted by rising alcohol-related death rates, it’s possible that they had less access to healthcare and treatment for alcohol use disorder than white people, Kranzler notes. These populations may also have experienced more stress during the pandemic because they were more apt to have jobs that couldn’t be done remotely, Kranzler adds. This means they either had to report to work in person, with the constant risk of COVID-19 exposure, or become unemployed.
RELATED: 6 Ways to Support Someone Recovering From Alcohol Use Disorder
Differences in Socioeconomic Status May Have Translated to Greater Stress and More Alcohol Consumption
Beyond this, the racial differences in alcohol-related deaths during the pandemic may also be explained by socioeconomic status, says Gregory Marcus, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
“Many more affluent workers were able to continue on with no meaningful change in the purpose of their work or income in the switch to remote, whereas blue collar workers, particularly those requiring physical labor or literal hands-on work, were more likely to lose their jobs, have their wages reduced, or be placed in more anxiety-provoking environments at risk for infection,” Dr. Marcus says.
“These differences in stress may have translated into more alcohol, and excessive alcohol consumption is a clearly established risk factor for death,” Marcus adds.
Working from Home Could Have Provided Additional Opportunities to Drink
And even when people could work from home, remote work may have created the perfect conditions for problematic alcohol consumption, Marcus says.
“For some, understandable anxiety fueled by fear of infection, concern about loved ones, and uncertainty about ramifications for the world at large may have led to increased drinking,” Marcus says. “Being stuck at home without the usual encumbrance of waking up early for work could have also contributed,” he adds, along with potential for drinking that might have been unthinkable in the office.
Problematic Drinking May Still Be an Issue
Habits developed during the pandemic, including increased alcohol consumption, may now be hard to break, even now that many people have returned to in-person jobs. Anyone concerned that their own alcohol use has become problematic should take this as a serious sign to stop drinking, Marcus advises.
“Signs of problematic drinking to watch out for would be consuming more than two drinks in 24 hours, a feeling one ‘needs’ a drink or cannot function in a way they desire in the absence of a drink, someone else voicing their concern about their drinking, or wondering whether they should cut down,” Marcus says.
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