Alcohol-related deaths among women rise at a faster rate than men

Amna Nawaz:

In the last two decades, more and more Americans have died from drinking-related causes, but a new study shows alcohol-related deaths are rising faster among women than men.

Laura Barrón-López takes a closer look.

Laura Barrón-López:

Amna, deaths from excessive drinking spiked during the pandemic, especially among women.

Though more men than women die overall from alcohol-related causes, the gap is shrinking. A study published in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" found that, from 2018 to 2020, alcohol-related deaths increased by 14.7 percent per year for women, compared to 12.5 percent increase per year for men. And from 2012 to 2020, those deaths rose 6.7 percent per year among women 65 and older.

For more on the larger impact. I'm joined by Dr. Paula Cook. She's a physician who specializes in addiction medicine and hosts the podcast "The Addiction Files."

Dr. Cook, thanks so much for joining us.

Were you surprised by the study's finding that there's an increase occurring in alcohol-related deaths for women?

Dr. Paula Cook, "The Addiction Files": Unfortunately, I was not surprised and us in the medical community were not surprised, because we have been seeing these trends of increased alcohol use amongst women for quite some time.

And particularly, over the last few years, we have seen increased usage. So it makes sense that the death — related mortality rates have been going up.

Laura Barrón-López:

The study didn't provide a specific reason for this faster increase. What do you think is contributing to this?

Dr. Paula Cook:

Well, I think there's several reasons.

Alcohol use has been normalized amongst women. And so we're seeing the gap narrowing amongst all age groups. Especially, younger women and teenage women are now increasing their use of alcohol far more than they used to. Marketing is targeting women for their alcohol use.

They're doing these this in very clever ways, and it's being effective. Women are experiencing more stress, I think, and stress-related drinking as a result. And then I think the effects of social media has had its effect on women increasing drinking as well.

Laura Barrón-López:

And the study specifically highlights the rise among women 65 and older.

What could be causing that rise within that specific population?

Dr. Paula Cook:

Well, we're seeing increased substance use some alcohol use in the Baby Boomers in general. As they age, they're using more

And this group of women, particularly, are subjected to the same effects that we were just talking about, the marketing effects, the stress effects. And as they leave the work force, there's interesting effects of women in terms of increased rates of anxiety, depression, et cetera, and more likely to reach to alcohol to kind of mitigate some of the effects of that.

Laura Barrón-López:

There's been some studies in the past that have told the public that one glass of red wine a night is OK. But how much drinking is too much drinking?

Because some of the dietary guidelines say that one glass a night for a woman is OK, two for a man is OK. What do you say?

Dr. Paula Cook:

Well, this has been very confusing.

But, lately, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society have come out with really clear guidelines saying that really no alcohol is safe. So, before, when we used to say maybe a glass of wine at night was helpful for your health, and your heart especially, now alcohol has more risk than benefit.

And so even though moderate drinking may be OK for some people, one drink for women or less, two drinks or less for men, there are many people in the population who shouldn't have alcohol at all. And the health benefits of alcohol have really been negated in the research.

Laura Barrón-López:

What happens, physiologically speaking, when women consume alcohol versus when men consume it?

Dr. Paula Cook:

Well, there's several differences.

I mean, women, both chemically and physiologically in their bodies, handle alcohol differently. So women have a higher body fat percentage than men, who have more water content. So alcohol concentrates more quickly and at a higher concentration in women than in men.

So, obviously, the effects are quicker, which means the effects on the organs are more. Women have hormonal fluctuations, which can increase the target organ effect, compared to men. And also women have negative effects on their organs at a quicker rate than men do. And that could be due to decreased amount of enzyme in their gut, so they don't metabolize alcohol as quickly.

And they're just more sensitive to the negative effects.

Laura Barrón-López:

Doctor, how often do you talk to patients who may not realize that the health consequences that they're suffering from are related to drinking? And what do you think physicians or the public could do to better educate women and men about their alcohol consumption?

Dr. Paula Cook:

I think this is actually quite common. I think people come in with complaints into primary care or they have high blood pressure, they have anxiety, maybe they can't sleep very well at night, or they have more serious health problems like breast cancer or other kinds of cancer, heart disease, cognitive decline.

And these problems are directly correlated to alcohol use, more so than the obvious ones, like liver disease and gastrointestinal problems. So physicians and other health care providers should always have alcohol on their list of possible contributors to health problems, including mental health problems.

And the public should be aware of how alcohol could be playing into their physical health and their mental health, and maybe look at the guidelines of where they fit in terms of their alcohol use.

Laura Barrón-López:

Dr. Paula Cook, thank you so much for your time.

Dr. Paula Cook:

You're welcome.