Inter-Hospital Escalation-of-Care Referrals for Severe Alcohol-Related Liver Disease with Recent Drinking During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Po-Hung Chen; Peng-Sheng Ting; Erik Almazan; Geetanjali Chander; Andrew M Cameron; Ahmet Gurakar

doi:10.1093/alcalc/agab047

Inter-Hospital Escalation-of-Care Referrals for Severe Alcohol-Related Liver Disease with Recent Drinking During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alcohol Alcohol. 2022 Mar 12;57(2):185-189. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agab047.

Authors

Po-Hung Chen¹, Peng-Sheng Ting¹, Erik Almazan², Geetanjali Chander³, Andrew M Cameron⁴, Ahmet Gurakar¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1800 Orleans Street, M2066, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
² Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
³ Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2024 E. Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁴ Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Blalock 424, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

Abstract

Alcohol sales and consumption have increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, but their downstream effects on alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) are unclear. We analyzed inter-hospital escalation-of-care referrals to our tertiary care inpatient liver unit across 18 months through December 2020. There was a significant rise in severe ALD with recent unhealthy drinking in our regional community during the pandemic.

MeSH terms

Alcohol Drinking / epidemiology
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Hospitals
Humans
Liver Diseases*
Pandemics
Referral and Consultation

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding