Changes in six categories of alcohol-attributable mortality from before to during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The shelter-in-place mandates enacted early in the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in changes in alcohol use and consequent outcomes. We assessed changes in six categories of season-specific alcohol-attributable mortality from before to during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.

METHODS: We used logistic regression models to assess alcohol-attributable mortality in the U.S. from 2017 through 2020 (n=11,632,725 decedents ages 18 and older). Outcomes included chronic fully alcohol-attributable deaths, poisonings, motor vehicle accidents, suicides, homicides, and falls. Exposure variables included year, season, the interaction between the year 2020 and season, rurality, the interaction between the year 2020 and rurality, decedent age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, and education.

RESULTS: Compared to 2019, season-specific mortality age-adjusted rates of chronic fully alcohol-attributable deaths, homicides, poisonings, and falls increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide rates decreased in most 2020 seasons relative to the same seasons in 2019. Motor vehicle deaths decreased in the spring of 2020 vs. 2019. Relative to dying by any other cause, the odds of death by chronic fully alcohol-attributable causes and poisonings were higher across seasons in 2020 vs. 2019. The odds of death by suicide were higher among residents of rural counties in the spring of 2020 vs. 2019.

CONCLUSIONS: There were distinct temporal changes in six types of alcohol-attributable deaths during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.