WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2022) Alcohol use disorder (AUD)-related mortality in the United States significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to "projected rates," according to a study released by a group of international researchers.
"By comparing observed and projected mortality rates, we noticed a surge in AUD mortality both overall and among all subgroups during the pandemic. The observed AUD-related mortality rates increased by 24.79% in 2020 and 21.95% in 2021 vs the projected rates," the study said on Wednesday.
The increase was similar for both men and women, the study found. However, the youngest age group, 25-44 years old, demonstrated a large increase compared to other age categories, rising by 40.27% in 2020 and 33.95% in 2021, the study said.
Excess deaths were more likely attributable to indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic such as stay-at-home policies instead of the virus itself, the study added.
The researchers used data from the National Vital Statistics System, which registers more than 99% of US deaths, and compared the figures to projected mortality rates made through linear regression analysis based on trends between 2012 and 2019.
Researchers were based out of institutions including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins University school of Medicine in Baltimore, and Xi'an Jiaotong University in China.
