‘New normal’: Hospital admissions for severe alcohol-related liver disease soaring since lockdown

Detailed summary

Hospitalisations for alcohol-related hepatitis more than doubled during the coronavirus lockdowns and admissions have remained at historically high levels in the years since.

Hospital admissions for alcohol-related severe liver disease have soared across Victoria as experts warn that younger patients and more women are being treated for the life-threatening condition.

A new study by the Burnet Institute found hospitalisations for alcohol-related hepatitis more than doubled during the coronavirus lockdowns, and admissions have remained high in the years since.

Alcohol-associated hepatitis is an acute, potentially deadly inflammation of the liver caused by excessive drinking and marked by rapid-onset jaundice. In severe cases, it can lead to multi-organ failure.

As part of the study, commissioned by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, researchers analysed Victorian hospital data taken from the statewide administrative health database.

They found between January 2017 and February 2020 there were 1132 admissions for alcohol-associated hepatitis. This number soared to 2979 admissions between March 2020 and June 2024, an increase of more than 163 per cent.

The researchers warned doctors were increasingly treating Victorians in their 30s and early 40s who were arriving at hospital gravely ill.

The study also found that four out of every 10 patients hospitalised in Victoria with alcohol-associated hepatitis were now under the age of 46.

Almost 575 admissions were people under the age of 35, while more than a quarter were aged between 36 and 45.

Women are also being diagnosed with severe liver disease at an increasingly high rate and now account for more than one in three cases of alcohol-associated hepatitis in Victoria and about 16 per cent were younger than 35.

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