Excessive drinking linked to jump in high blood pressure deaths during COVID pandemic, CDC report says
Excessive Drinking Linked to Increase in High Blood Pressure Deaths During COVID-19 Pandemic
According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive drinking has been associated with a rise in high blood pressure deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report, released on Friday, revealed that the estimated average number of hypertension deaths related to excessive alcohol consumption was 51.6% higher in 2020 through 2021 compared to 2016 through 2017. This increase equated to approximately 21,137 deaths annually, as opposed to 13,941 deaths during the respective time periods.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID outbreak a pandemic in March 2020 and officially ended the global pandemic emergency in May 2023.
Furthermore, the report highlighted a disparity between genders, noting that over 60% of hypertension deaths attributed to excessive drinking occurred among females. Specifically, 61.2% of deaths were recorded during 2016 and 2017, increasing to 62.8% in 2020 and 2021.
During the 2020 through 2021 timeframe, excessive alcohol use was responsible for 1 in 5 hypertension deaths in females and 1 in 8 deaths in males.
Analysis and Data
The report focused on adults aged 20 and older, utilizing the CDC’s Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) tool and mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System.
This report emerges amid a national surge in alcohol-related deaths in the United States. Excessive alcohol consumption remains a leading preventable cause of death, with an estimated 178,000 individuals succumbing to excessive drinking annually. Hypertension deaths linked to alcohol use, as highlighted in this report, represent only a fraction of the total deaths attributed to alcohol.
Research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic led to an escalation in stress-induced drinking and alcohol-related fatalities, a trend that persisted even after the return to normalcy. A study conducted in 2024 revealed that drinking rates observed from 2018 to 2020 continued into 2022.
This report is one of the final publications from the CDC’s Division of Population Health team, who studied alcohol mortality before facing layoffs during significant budget cuts by the Trump administration. It comes just ahead of the anticipated release of updated dietary guidelines by the government, which may include revised recommendations on alcohol consumption limits.
About the Author
Author: Sara Moniuszko
Bio: Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she played a key role in launching the newspaper’s wellness section. Currently, she covers breaking and trending health news for CBS News’ HealthWatch.
