Report: Excessive drinking up among middle-aged adults during COVID

Excessive drinking among middle-aged adults increased even more when the coronavirus pandemic began.

A new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that alcohol-related deaths rose by 26% from 2019 to 2020.

The increase was even sharper among women ages 35 to 44 – going up by 42% during that same time frame.

According to the report, many adults deeply increased their drinking when the pandemic hit.

Experts say with the increase in drinking rates also came the increase in mortality.

Alcohol-related deaths rose from 10.4 per 100,000 people in 2019 to 13.1 per 100,000 in 2020, says the CDC.