Increased alcohol‐specific mortality in Germany during COVID‐19: State‐level trends from 2010 to 2020

INTRODUCTION: The COVID‐19 pandemic may have led to an increase in the alcohol‐specific mortality. Against this backdrop, the aim of this report is to explore alcohol‐specific mortality trends in Germany of the years 2010 to 2020. METHOD: Alcohol‐specific mortality data aggregated by sex, 5‐year age groups and state were collected from the annual cause‐of‐death statistics and analysed descriptively by visual inspection. RESULTS: The overall alcohol‐specific mortality rate (age‐standardised) has mainly decreased between 2010 and 2020. However, increased alcohol‐specific mortality rates for the year 2020 compared to 2019 were found for both, women (+4.8%) and men (+5.5%), particularly in age groups between 40 and 69 years. Changes in alcohol‐specific mortality rates differed between federated states, with steeper increases in East Germany. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Different mechanisms related to the increase in alcohol consumption, particularly among high‐risk drinkers, and reduced resources in health care may have led to an increase in alcohol‐specific mortality in Germany in 2020. Despite the recent decline in the alcohol‐specific mortality in Germany, an increase in the death toll was observed in 2020.