Colorado doctors warning of skyrocketing alcohol use post-pandemic as liver transplants among younger people increase

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Colorado doctors say they are concerned about alcohol use after the pandemic, as liver transplants among younger people increase.

11 News spoke with UCHealth, who in a new report said most people who needed liver transplants a decade ago had contracted hepatitis C or had other liver diseases that were unrelated to alcohol use. Now, doctors say alcohol is the leading indication for liver transplantation in America.

“There was lots of studies suggesting that young people, particularly women, of all age groups and also rural people, people in cities… who were increasing use of alcohol in the decade before the pandemic, and then the pandemic seemed to just light things on fire,” said Dr. James Burton, Transplant Hepatologist at UCHealth Anschutz Medical Campus.

Burton reports about 80% of transplant evaluations their office is seeing have alcohol as a primary driver of their liver disease. UCHealth is seeing more younger women with these problems in recent years.

“During the pandemic, there was a lot of lack of social connections. There was anxieties, depression increased, you couldn’t get to see your therapist, you couldn’t leave your house, you didn’t know how it was going to end, people just stayed home and drank too much,” said Burton.

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