Drinking finally slows after pandemic spike, but not for every age group - NBC News

Americans are drinking less for the first time since the Covid pandemic, though overall alcohol use remains higher than before 2020, according to a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The overall decline was modest at about 1%, drawing on data from the CDC's National Health Interview Survey across 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024, said senior author Dr. Brian P. Lee, a liver transplant doctor at Keck Medicine of USC.
The drop was driven by younger people: Gen Z reported the biggest overall decrease from 2022 to 2024 at more than 5%, while millennials saw the largest fall in heavy drinking, down 17%, though both groups still exceeded 2018 levels.
Heavy drinking declined more among women (9%) than men (7.7%), even as men reported a larger overall drinking decline; the study defined heavy drinking as five or more drinks daily or 15 weekly for men, and four daily or eight weekly for women.
In contrast, heavy drinking among adults ages 50 to 64 has climbed steadily since 2018, rising about 2% from 2022 to 2024 and more than a third overall — an increase Lee said represents roughly a million more people drinking heavily in that group.
Lee called this trend the most concerning finding, noting older drinkers are more vulnerable to alcohol's harms, with cirrhosis typically developing in a person's 50s and alcohol-related liver disease now the leading cause of U.S. liver transplants.