Does Public Policy Affect Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Deaths? A team of liver experts examine how statewide policies impact mortality rates among individuals with alcohol-related liver disease. Michigan Medicine Alcohol-related liver disease is on the rise in the United States. Most strikingly, this epidemic is disproportionally affecting young, otherwise healthy, people, leading to rapid increases in alcohol-related liver disease deaths. “Changes in mortality rates for alcohol-related liver disease vary significantly from state-to-state, so we think socioeconomic factors and policies are likely interconnected with the condition,” says Neehar Parikh, M.D., M.S., a liver specialist and assistant professor at Michigan Medicine. “But as a society, we have limited ways to respond to this epidemic.”