Similarly, one can expect the markets related to alcohol addiction to increase due to various associations with fatal liver diseases, heart problems and other complications. In the case of alcohol use, GlobalData epidemiologists estimated that over 21.2 million Americans are expected to suffer from alcohol addiction in 2021.
‘Opioid use disorder cases is estimated to reach a total of 1.9 million in the US in 2021 following 13% substance use increase in 2020. This increase might cost the US billions to treat alcohol addiction and OUD and may also reduce the US life expectancy.’
Therefore, a 13% increase would result in an additional 2.8 million cases of alcohol addiction this year. Walter Gabriel, MPH, Epidemiologist at GlobalData, comments: “Such a significant increase in the prevalence of substance use will increase the overall cost of treating alcohol addiction and OUD downstream as substance abuse needs to be managed over a long period of time.”
The impacts of substance abuse go beyond the economic cost as the demographic profile of the US could also see a shift in life expectancy. An increase in the prevalence of substance abuse would also result in a significant loss of life.
Gabriel continues: “Since the brunt of this loss will mainly impact younger populations as substance abuse tends to affect young and middle-aged adults disproportionately, this trend could lead to stagnation or even a decrease in the US life expectancy as more younger adults die prematurely.”
Source: Medindia
