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Inpatient consults for alcohol-related GI and liver diseases surged after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and remained elevated, researchers found.
The proportion of inpatients requiring endoscopic interventions for their alcohol-related GI and liver diseases also increased, suggesting a worsening trend in severity, according to data presented at a pre-meeting press conference for the virtual Digestive Disease Week (DDW) conference.
In addition to effects on physical health due to delayed or limited healthcare access mandated by infection-control restrictions, many people experienced negative psychosocial impacts such as isolation, anxiety, depression, job loss, and economic insecurity, noted Waihong Chung, MD, PhD, of the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. These are risk factors for the development of other health problems such as addiction.
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Bethesda, MD (May 14, 2021) Inpatient consults for alcohol-related gastrointestinal (GI) and liver diseases have surged since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and remained elevated, according to research selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2021. The proportion of patients that required inpatient endoscopic interventions for their alcohol-related GI and liver diseases has also increased, highlighting an apparent worsening trend in the severity of disease. When we went into lockdown, many people experienced significant negative impacts, such as social isolation, job loss and an increase in anxiety and depression, said Waihong Chung, MD, PhD, lead researcher of the study and a research fellow for the Division of Gastroenterology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. These experiences may have led people to increase their alcohol consumption, which could explain why we are seeing a surge in the vo