Deaths related to alcohol use in the U.S. have increased over the past years, resulting in alcohol having a larger impact on public health services, according to a recent study. The authors of Using Death Certificates to Explore Changes in Alcohol‐Related Mortality in the United States, 1999 to 2017 warn that because death certificates often fail to indicate the contribution of alcohol, the scope of alcohol‐related mortality in the United States is likely higher than suggested from death certificates alone.

Alcohol consumption, alcohol‐related emergency department visits, and hospitalizations have all increased in the last 2 decades, particularly among women and people middle‐aged and older. Researchers analyzed mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics to assess whether there were parallel changes in alcohol‐related mortality during the same time period.