Alcohol-related deaths soared 27% since Covid

DEATHS from alcoholrelated disease soared by 27 per cent after the pandemic struck, analysis reveals.

The research, based on Office for National Statistics data, shows the number of people who died directly due to the effects of alcohol, including liver disease, hit 9,641 in 2021.

In 2019 the number was 7,565.

Oxford University scientists Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson believe cuts to health services played a part in the rise.

Professor Heneghan said: “Mental disorders and accidental poisoning events were present but played a small part in adding to the

tally. Most of the deaths will have been habitual heavy drinkers who found refuge by increasing their daily intake.”

Two studies last year suggested that up to 25,000 more people than usual

could die in England over the next 20 years as a result of heavy drinking habits that began during lockdown.

They found that those who drank moderately in March 2020, generally reduced their intake while social restrictions were in place. But many heavy drinkers consumed more. Dr

Tom Jefferson, senior associate tutor at Oxford added: “Alcoholic disease is the result of years of abuse and an abnormal lifestyle.

“Many of these people were on the tipping point of alcohol-related illness and with dependency services shut and GP services cut, it meant people didn’t get the help they needed.”

The ONS report shows that as of March 2022, “increasing and higher risk drinking” remained at heightened levels.

It states: “Alcohol-specific deaths have risen sharply since the onset of the pandemic, with alcoholic liver disease the leading cause of these deaths.

“Research has suggested people who were already drinking at higher levels before the pandemic were the most likely to have increased their alcohol consumption during this period.

“If these consumption patterns persist there could be hundreds of thousands of additional cases of alcohol-related diseases, and thousands of extra deaths as a result.”

However, the ONS also warned that because of the chronic nature of the condition, “there may be a delay between changes in alcohol consumption and behaviour and the resulting change in the number of alcohol-specific deaths”.