Deaths among 25-34 years old Americans from cirrhosis surged with the onset of the Great Recession, a study in the British Medical Journal found. The study attributed the deaths to alcohol-related liver disease and alcohol use disorder.
Candidly, we’re a bit suspicious of that diagnosis.Cirrhosis traditionally is associated with old age. Before 2010, mortality from cirrhosis was concentrated in those 65 and over. That’s because it took a lifetime of heavy drinking for cirrhosis to emerge. Now, suddenly, beginning in 2009, there’s a surge. That just doesn’t make common sense…unless, somehow, it’s related to the Great Recession.
Nonetheless, the study attributed the surge to excessive alcohol use, and touted “increased taxes on alcohol (which have been linked with decreased alcohol related disease).”
Dr. Sam Zakhari, the chief scientist for the Distilled Spirits Council, took a look at the study and noted it doesn’t “take into account the many risk factors associated with cirrhosis, including obesity and viral hepatitis, as well as medications that cause liver damage. For example, the epidemic of obesity in the 1990’s is a major risk factor for liver cirrhosis and cancer, and could be a major contributing factor for the increase in liver mortality, as the authors correctly stated.
“Importantly too, the authors base their findings on data abstracted from death certificates, which they acknowledge, ‘may be inaccurate.’ As the authors stated, “a death certificate can have a primary or underlying cause and up to 20 contributing causes, Zakhari said in the statement.
To bolster their claim that increased death rates in the 23-34 age group were driven by alcoholic cirrhosis, the authors state the findings are reinforced by parallel changes in mortality due to alcohol use disorders. “However, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the leading federal survey that tracks alcohol use disorders, shows a decline among all age groups and the greatest rate of decline is among those ages 18-25,” Zakhari says, adding:
“As a matter of public health and public policy, it is important that the full body of scientific literature is taken into account. The spirits community always has urged that adults who choose to consume alcohol should do so responsibly and moderately, and some individuals should not drink at all.”