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Public Health

Alcohol-Related Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA

Published Online: March 18, 2022

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Aaron M. White, PhD¹;

I-Jen P. Castle, PhD¹;

Patricia A. Powell, PhD¹;

Ralph W. Hingson, ScD¹;

George F. Koob, PhD¹

Author Affiliations

¹National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: March 5, 2022.

Published Online: March 18, 2022. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.4308

Corresponding Author: Aaron M. White, PhD, Office of the Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, 6700B Rockledge Dr, Bethesda, MD 20852 (whitea4@mail.nih.gov).

Author Contributions: Dr White had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: All authors.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: White, Castle, Hingson, Koob.

Drafting of the manuscript: White, Castle, Hingson, Koob.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: Castle, Hingson.

Administrative, technical, or material support: White, Koob.

Supervision: White, Hingson, Koob.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Powell reported Pfizer stock ownership outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of the federal government.

Additional Information: All data used in the project are publicly accessible from the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

References

Koob GF , Powell P , White A . Addiction as a coping response: hyperkatifeia, deaths of despair, and COVID-19. Am J Psychiatry. 2020;177(11):1031-1037. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20091375 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Moon AM , Curtis B , Mandrekar P , Singal AK , Verna EC , Fix OK . Alcohol-associated liver disease before and after COVID-19-an overview and call for ongoing investigation. Hepatol Commun. 2021;5(9):1616-1621. doi:10.1002/hep4.1747 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Sharma RA , Subedi K , Gbadebo BM , Wilson B , Jurkovitz C , Horton T . Alcohol withdrawal rates in hospitalized patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(3):e210422. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0422 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

White AM , Castle IP , Hingson RW , Powell PA . Using death certificates to explore changes in alcohol-related mortality in the United States, 1999 to 2017. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2020;44(1):178-187. doi:10.1111/acer.14239 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Overdose death rates. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Accessed February 15, 2022. https://nida.nih.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

Castle IJ , Yi HY , Hingson RW , White AM . State variation in underreporting of alcohol involvement on death certificates: motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities as an example. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2014;75(2):299-312. doi:10.15288/jsad.2014.75.299 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 credit toward the CME [and Self-Assessment requirements] of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.