The corona pandemic has apparently led to more cases of liver failure due to alcohol consumption.
This can be concluded from a study by doctors at the Frankfurt University Hospital.
The doctors at the University Liver Center recorded how many patients with so-called acute-on-chronic liver failure were treated there in the past four years.
Sascha Zoske
Journalist in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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From 2017 to 2020, a total of more than 200 people with this diagnosis were brought to the intensive care unit.
In 2020, the proportion of those patients whose organ failure was due to alcoholism was far higher than usual: While it had been around 25 percent in previous years, it increased to 57 percent in the first year of the pandemic.
Around 70 percent of the patients died
In November and December 2020, more than 80 percent of the cases could be explained with alcohol abuse, compared to just under 20 percent in the same period of 2019.
The prognosis for alcohol-related liver failure is very poor: around 70 percent of patients died, also because the disease often resulted in the failure of other organs.
According to the Frankfurt doctors, the restriction of freedom of movement and the social isolation caused by the lockdown meant that alcoholics drank even more.
From this one can conclude that addicts need special support in such situations in order not to endanger their lives.
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