Midstate doctor reacts to new study finding pandemic drinking hitting middle-aged woman the hardest
(WHTM) – According to newly released University of Pittsburgh-led research, middle-aged women experienced an increase in alcohol-related health complications during the pandemic.
“It was quite staggering to read, and it was, is quite shocking,” said UPMC Clinical Psychologist Melissa Brown.
Researchers say this is alarming because while men still die more often from drinking-related causes than women, deaths among women are increasing at a faster rate.
“We need to get the word out that the gap between men and women in terms of alcohol related harms is narrowing. That’s public health message number one,” said Dr. Bryant Shuey who is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh and Internal Medicine Physician at UPMC.
Findings show almost every month from April 2020 to September 2021, women between the ages of 40 to 64 were admitted to the hospital for alcohol-related liver diseases including cirrhosis or hepatitis.
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“Which are really serious conditions and the leading causes of alcohol related deaths,” said Shuey.
Researchers were not able to determine the reasoning for the increase but one Midstate doctor shared her thoughts.
“We know that women generally are the caregivers and the caretakers and thinking about what happened during the pandemic, recognizing that a lot of families were under a lot of stressors that were never experienced before, perhaps having to be a teacher, an educator, also caring for elderly parents and or siblings or other family members, along with trying to work or navigate going to work,” said Brown.
Lead researcher Dr. Bryant Shuey says there are a few things that could be done, like reducing the stigma.
“We need to have honest conversations about enacting stronger policies that reduce the negative effects of alcohol. Those policies can range from things like limiting alcohol advertising, which is everywhere, and things like changing alcohol related taxes, which has largely been unchanged at a federal level for 20 years,” said Shuey.
Dr. Shuey says the study also saw increases in alcohol usage among men during the pandemic.
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