NEW YORK — Overall drinking among U.S. adults edged down after 2022, but people ages 50 to 64 kept drinking more — and more of them drank heavily — according to a study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

That band roughly matches Generation X. It was the only age group in the analysis in which drinking continued to rise after the first pandemic years. Adults under 40 were the only group whose rate of heavy drinking fell between 2018 and 2024.

Dr. Brian P. Lee, a hepatologist and liver-transplant specialist at Keck Medicine of USC and the study's principal investigator, said people in their 50s and early 60s are those who "we were already most worried about health-related risks for alcohol" and where "we are seeing the highest increases in heavy drinking." "That combination is particularly concerning," he said.

The share of U.S. adults who drank any alcohol was 66 percent in 2018, rose to 69 percent in 2020 and held there in 2022. By 2024 it was 68 percent — still above the pre-pandemic mark but the first decline since 2018. Heavy drinking, defined as more than 15 drinks a week for men and more than eight for women, went from 5.1 percent of adults in 2018 to 6.1........

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