Alcohol-Related Hospitalizations Jumped Amid COVID,
with Women Experiencing Some of the Greatest Impacts

Alcohol use took a growing toll on the health of New Jerseyans last year, with double-digit increases in alcohol-related hospitalizations in the pandemic’s second year, according to a data brief from the New Jersey Hospital Association.

The proportion of patients in New Jersey hospitals with alcoholic-related liver disease jumped from 11.9 per 1,000 in 2019 to 14.7 per 1,000 in 2021, an increase of 23 percent, according to hospital discharge data. In actual numbers, that reflects 13,188 individuals hospitalized with alcoholic-liver disease last year, a 19 percent increase compared with 11,039 in 2019, the last year before COVID-19 arrived in the United States.

While men accounted for the highest number of cases in actual numbers, the increase in alcohol-related hospitalizations came at a higher rate among women, according to the analysis by NJHA’s Center for Health Analytics, Research and Transformation. Among females, the proportion of alcoholic-related liver disease diagnoses jumped 28 percent compared with 21 percent for males. In actual numbers, there was a 22 percent increase for females and 18 percent for males from 2019 to 2021.

“As we peel back the layers, we continue to learn more about the pandemic’s insidious impact on the health of New Jerseyans,” said NJHA President and CEO Cathy Bennett. “Rising alcohol sales and consumption were well documented during the pandemic. Now we’re seeing the downstream toll it’s taking on New Jersey residents and the growing burden on our healthcare system.”

NJHA’s data analysis showed the prevalence of alcoholic liver disease-related hospitalizations was highest among those ages 45 to 54 from 2017 to 2021. Increases during the 2019-2021 pandemic period spanned all age categories, but were highest among the 35-to-44 age group (48% increase) followed by the 25-to-34 age group (41%).

N.J. State Health Assessment Data (SHAD) shows that total deaths related to alcoholic-liver disease increased from 357 in 2019 to 444 in 2020. The age-adjusted death rate increased from 3.4 in 2019 to 4.2 in 2020, but is not yet available for 2021, according to SHAD.

NJHA’s full report, Alcohol-Related Hospitalizations Jumped Amid COVID, with additional details and charts is available online, along with an array of additional data on the pandemic’s impact on New Jersey health and healthcare at www.njha.com/CHART.