(NewsNation) — A new study has found women aged 40 to 64 experienced an increase in alcohol-related health complications during the pandemic. 

The study, published Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum, examined insurance claim data of 14 million patients from 2017 to 2021 and found women aged 40 to 64 years experienced an increase in complications by up to 56% in 10 of 18 pandemic months.

Complications included alcohol-related liver diseases, such as cirrhosis or hepatitis, as well as alcohol withdrawal and alcohol-related heart disease. 

Middle-aged women’s rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related complications was higher than expected following the start of the pandemic in the U.S. compared to four of the 18 months when looking at all ages and genders, according to the study.

“Findings underscore the need for increased attention to alcohol use disorder risk factors, alcohol use patterns, alcohol-related health effects, and alcohol regulations and policies, especially among women aged 40 to 64 years,” the study stated. 

“We anticipated finding some increase in hospitalizations for alcohol-related complications among women,”  Bryant Shuey, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of the study, said per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  “We didn’t realize it would be this stark.

“We know that drinking has increased among women over the last decade and that women, particularly compared to men, increased alcohol use during the pandemic,” he said.

Shuey added that while men die more often from drinking-related causes than women, this study shows that that “gap is narrowing.”

“Our study adds to a grouping of studies now which really raise the alarm bells to say that the gap between men and women is narrowing and we need to intervene.”