Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Is ‘Surging’ in Young People — and It’s 'Far Worse in Women,' Research Says

Mar. 15, 2025

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Alcohol-relatedliver diseasesare rising in people under 40 — with cases specifically surging inyoung women, new research indicates.

According to a report published in theJournal of the American Medical Association(JAMA), researchers looked at data from 3,340 people, ranging in age from 13 to 39, who were treated for alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) between 2001 and 2022.

It was discovered that females had a “50% higher risk of developingcirrhosis,” scarring of the liver, and had a higher rate of liver mortality than their male counterparts, researchers said.

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Researchers saw an increase in the disease year over year, with AH rising 8% annually in men and 11% a year in women.

“When I started training in hepatology over 15 years ago, the type of individual we cared for with alcohol-associated hepatitis was very different from those we see today,” study author Dr. Jennifer Flemming, the Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences at Canada’s Queens University, said in astatement.

The study said that “disproportionate increases” in AH affected adolescents and young adults. It added that theCOVID-19pandemic “furtherexacerbated these trends” both in Canada and the U.S., which showed an increase in young women being hospitalized for AH.

A young woman sits in a hospital waiting treatment.Getty

Given the “surging rates” of AH among adolescents and young adults, the study said there is an “urgent need” to identify risk groups and intervene with treatment and disease management.

“Alcohol is deeply woven into the social fabric of many cultures," Flemming said, “but what’s really encouraging is that with the right education and public health strategies, we can change behaviors for the better.”

source: people.com