More Aussies were hospitalised due to their drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-06-30 03:00

Australia; NSW; VIC; WA; TAS; ACT

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The number of Australians who were hospitalised or died as a result of their alcohol consumption increased over the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during mid-late 2020, according to Australian research. The team took data on alcohol-related hospitalisations and deaths from 2016 until February 2020 and used it to estimate the likely rate of both for 2020 had the pandemic never happened. Comparing their prediction to the actual statistics, the researchers say the pandemic was linked to about 681 and 208 excess monthly alcohol-related hospitalisations in men and women, respectively. There were 13 excess alcohol-related deaths per month for men and four for women, the researchers add.

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Journal/
conference: Drug and Alcohol Review

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), National Drug Research Institute (NDRI), La Trobe University, Burnet Institute, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), University of Tasmania

Funder: This study is supported by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and the National Drug Research Institute, which are funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under the Drug and Alcohol Program. Amy Peacock is funded by an Investigator Fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (Grant #1174630). Michael Livingston is funded by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT210100656).

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