Alcohol-Related Liver Failure Deaths Spike in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's spike is nearly quadruple that of nationwide growth rate.
Hospital waiting area. (Public Domain)
New research has found that deaths from liver failure stemming from alcohol abuse have risen nationwide — with the rates of liver cirrhosis in Wisconsin jumping more than a third in just four years.
The investigation published in JAMA Open Network in June found deaths from liver disease tied to alcohol use increased nearly 9 percent nationwide. But a recent review of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more stark numbers for Wisconsin: Deaths from alcohol-related liver cirrhosis shot up 35 percent from 2019 to 2023, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Overall drinking-related deaths have more than tripled from 1999 to 2020, according to another analysis from the Journal Sentinel.
The research in JAMA found the rate of alcohol-related liver disease increased sharply during and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Patrick Remington, emeritus professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” it’s important to understand the causes for this spike.
“We know that COVID — and the isolation related to COVID and the stress and strain of unemployment — was a cause,” Dr. Remington said. “We also know that there’s a mental health crisis in our nation … alcohol can be used to self-medicate. It’s an attempt to really blunt the pain that comes from depression and or anxiety.”
The national data published in JAMA found that deaths from alcohol-related liver disease rose more sharply for young adults from 25 to 44 years old — and particularly for women.
Maureen Busalacchi is the director of the Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project at the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Busalacchi works with communities all over the state to reduce problematic drinking. She said health care providers she’s in contact with are treating younger patients than in previous years.
“When we’ve talked to providers, they say that it used to be [that] they would never treat someone for alcohol, hepatitis or cirrhosis in their twenties or thirties. Now, it’s not infrequent,” Busalacchi said.
Busalacchi noted that this rise in deaths from alcohol-related liver diseases has occurred as research has found young adults to have been drinking less overall.
At the same time, she said, there is a segment of the drinking population that has been increasing how much alcohol they consume regularly.
“When I talk to providers, they mention that it’s really important for people to understand: Two to three drinks a night can put you on the path to destroy your liver,” Busalacchi said.
Dr. Remington is a contributor to a survey through the CDC called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. He said Wisconsin has topped the charts for numerous problematic behaviors tied to alcohol — like drinking and driving as well as rates of heavier drinking — nearly every year for roughly four decades.
“This is deeply embedded in the culture of Wisconsin,” Dr. Remington said. “It’s not so much focusing on the percentage of people who consume alcohol — there are other states that have as many people who drink alcohol as Wisconsin — but it’s this problem drinking behavior that we see in the state.”
Busalacchi’s work has often focused on addressing Wisconsin’s drinking culture. She said efforts to change the culture come from a combination of new local policies like reducing the number and size of alcoholic drinks available to purchase, as well as improving enforcement of existing laws that bar retailers from selling alcohol to people who are underage.
But Busalacchi said policies like these are just one part of a bigger picture — and that it is important to teach individuals about the risk that culturally accepted drinking levels can have on the body.
“There’s this perception of someone who has an alcohol use disorder, that they’re falling-down drunk, that relationships are a problem, jobs are a problem. And that’s not necessarily the case,” Busalacchi said. “With these folks who are drinking two or three or more [drinks] every day, they don’t realize the harm that is happening.”
For more information on alcohol and what constitutes excessive drinking, visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Service’s website.
More Wisconsin residents dying from alcohol-related liver failure, according to new research was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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