Alcohol (Hoboken). 2023 Aug 8. doi: 10.1111/acer.15162. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: An increase in alcoholic beverage sales was observed during the peak of the COVID pandemic in the US. Little is known about the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospitalized alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) patients.

METHODS: In this study we analyzed the available National Inpatient Data (NIS) data from 2020 to determine mortality and healthcare utilization among hospitalized AH patients with and without COVID-19 in the United States.

RESULTS: We observed an ~15.6% increase in cases of hospitalized AH patients from 136,620 in 2019 to 157,885 in 2020, a significant increase from an average of 5.5% per annum despite an 8.7% decline in US hospital admissions over the same time span. Men younger than 40 was the fastest growing AH group, representing a 23% increase in 2020. Approximately 1.8% of hospitalized AH patients had a SARS-CoV-2 infection. An infection with SARS-CoV-2 significantly worsened the mortality among patients with AH (11.4% vs. 4.1%, p<0.0001), especially among older AH patients with concomitant comorbidities such as clinically apparent cirrhosis, acute renal failure, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and sepsis. AH patients with COVID-19 also had a longer length of stay (8.6 vs. 6.1 days, p <0.0001) and higher hospital charges during the stay ($93,670 vs. $66,283, p <0.0001).

CONCLUSION: Our study highlighted the rise in AH cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Screening and appropriate management of excessive alcohol use and the preventive measure such as the recommendation of COVID-19 vaccination should be considered to prevent the morbidity and mortality among patients with ALD.

PMID:37553753 | DOI:10.1111/acer.15162