Lockdown drinking blamed for deadly rise in alcohol deaths

New data shows Queensland has recorded the nation’s biggest rise in alcohol-related deaths, with young adults hit hardest and hospitalisations soaring.

The study found young people were hit hardest, with those aged 15 to 34 experiencing around 144 more hospitalisations each month than forecasted during the first year of the pandemic. GRAPHIC and CONTENT: Drug and Alcohol Review: Excess Alcohol-Induced Hospitalisations and Deaths During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.

A new national study has revealed the serious health consequences of alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 lockdowns, with younger Queenslanders among the hardest hit and the state recording the highest rise in alcohol-related deaths in the country.

The study found alcohol-related deaths increased across most of Australia, but noted that Queensland had the biggest rise in deaths between 2019 and 2022.

Researchers pointed out that Queensland also had some of the lightest COVID-19 restrictions, which the report said may have made it easier for harmful drinking patterns to continue or worsen.

“State/territory-level mortality data show similar increases in alcohol-induced deaths for most jurisdictions, with the largest increase between 2019 and 2022 occurring in Queensland, which experienced some of the lightest restrictions,” the study found.

Average excess (or deficit) in observed number of alcohol-induced hospitalisations per month in the COVID-19 pandemic period (March 2020 to April 2021). DATA: Drug and Alcohol Review

The alarming new data, published in the Drug and Alcohol Review this month, has prompted fresh warnings about the long shadow of the pandemic’s impact on public health, particularly for younger adults.

The research team, led by Dr Wing See Yuen, a Research Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Sydney, used hospital and death records to estimate how alcohol-related harm would have trended if pre-Covid patterns had continued.

Across Australia, the study found an extra 681 people were hospitalised each month for conditions entirely caused by alcohol.

These included serious mental health problems, alcohol poisoning, and physical diseases such as liver damage or pancreatitis.

In addition, 13 more people died every month from alcohol-induced causes than would have been expected had the pandemic not disrupted existing trends.

It also found young people were hit hardest, with those aged 15 to 34 experiencing around 144 more hospitalisations each month than forecasted during the first year of the pandemic.

People aged 35 to 54 also faced severe impacts, with an estimated 331 extra hospitalisations and eight excess deaths per month in that age group.

Dr Wing See Yuen, a Research Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. Picture: LinkedIn

Importantly, the researchers focused only on hospitalisations and deaths that were attributable to alcohol with the true toll of alcohol-related harm during the pandemic likely to be even higher.

Lead author Dr Yuen said the increase in harm became clearer later in the pandemic, with “more evident (effects) from mid-2020 onwards”.

“There was an overall excess of both alcohol-induced hospitalisations and deaths in Australia after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she wrote.

“ … The increases reflect the increase in the overall amount of alcohol available for consumption reported by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.”

The study did not provide separate data for alcohol-induced deaths or hospitalisations specifically for Queensland but did find many of the extra hospital admissions across the country were for alcohol-related mental health conditions, accounting for about 483 additional cases a month.

A further 165 people a month were admitted with serious physical illnesses such as alcoholic liver disease, stomach damage, and heart conditions caused by heavy drinking.

The authors concluded that the surge in alcohol-related harm during the Covid era required urgent attention.

“There is a clear need to prioritise strategies aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm in these age groups to prevent further escalation of health problems and mortality,” the report said.