Young Adults Are Drinking Themselves To Death, Study Finds

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Millennials are drinking themselves to death, according to a recent medical report.

"Is it peer pressure, is it job pressure, there was a significant rise in alcohol-related issues after 2008 when there was a recession." Thomas Faust, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital said.

Between 1999 and 2016, researchers say deaths from cirrhosis, an alcohol-related liver disease, increased by 65 percent. People 25-years-old to 34-years-old saw the biggest spike overall.

57-year-old Janet Kisamore is currently enrolled in a program at Franklin Square Hospital to treat patients with liver disease.

"I was an alcoholic at a very young age and started drugs at a very young age, so between that it attacked my liver," Kisamore said.

Medstar Georgetown University Hospital's Dr. Thomas Faust is in charge of this clinic.

"The patient can talk to members of the transplant team, including a surgeon, social worker, dietitian and financial planner and transplant coordinator and then we present these patients to our committee at Georgetown and get them listed," Faust said.

Georgetown is one of the biggest liver transplant programs in the region. Dr. Faust says the dramatic surge in cirrhosis deaths highlights the importance of disease prevention, and the need to further research.

"Made me a much happier person knowing they are there for me when needed and those who need it the help is there," Kisamore said.

The study also found that deaths from cirrhosis were highest in western and southern states. In Maryland, it was the only state to see a decrease.

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