Alcohol use dips for the first time since COVID pandemic, study finds

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption has dropped among adults in the United States, according to researchers in California and Philadelphia.

Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia found that while alcohol use has decreased, rates are still higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted from 2020 to 2023.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal “Annals of Internal Medicine” on Monday, Sept. 21.

"It’s encouraging to see alcohol use decline for the first time since the start of the pandemic,” said Dr. Brian P. Lee, hepatologist and liver transplant specialist with Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, in a university news release.

Lee, a principal investigator of the study, added that “certain groups continue to have concerning trends.”

The new study is a follow-up on Lee’s previous findings that alcohol use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued for another two years, the university said.

Here’s what the research team found.

To carry out the study, the researchers observed National Health Interview Survey responses from 114,352 U.S. adults between 2018 and 2024.

The researchers grouped the respondents by generation:

Respondents were…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/life/