Between-hospital care referrals for severe alcohol-related liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 to 2022

Erik Almazan; Juliette Dixon; Avi Gerstenblith; Sarah Andrews; James Flanary; Andrew M Cameron; Ahmet Gurakar; Po-Hung Chen

doi:10.1093/alcalc/agad071

Between-hospital care referrals for severe alcohol-related liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 to 2022

Alcohol Alcohol. 2024 Jan 11;59(1):agad071. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agad071.

Authors

Erik Almazan¹, Juliette Dixon², Avi Gerstenblith³, Sarah Andrews³, James Flanary⁴, Andrew M Cameron⁴, Ahmet Gurakar⁵, Po-Hung Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
² Department of Care Management, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, United States.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁵ Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.

Abstract

Increased alcohol consumption during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is projected to impact alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) morbidity and mortality. Inter-hospital escalation-of-care referral requests to our tertiary-care hepatology unit were analyzed from January 2020 through December 2022. Most requests to our center were for ALD with an increase in requests from intermediate care units, suggestive of higher acuity illness.

Keywords: alcoholic liver disease; alcoholic liver disease-recent drinking; escalation-of-care.

MeSH terms

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

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding