Author: James Anderson

Alcohol-Related Deaths: What to Know

Neha Pathak, MD, FACP, DipABLM, is part of WebMD’s Medical Team, which is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of health information on WebMD. She oversees a national network of doctors that reviews content across the site and works with the editorial teams that create it. This includes news, special reports, WebMD Magazine, videos, mobile applications, tools, and health reference content. She also reports on topics related to lifestyle and environmental impacts on health for WebMD and Medscape. Excessive drinking makes up around 18% of the ER visits and over 22% percent of overdose-related deaths compared to other substance misuse products like opioids.

The percentage of alcohol-attributable deaths among men amounts to 7.7 % of all global deaths compared to 2.6 % of all deaths among women. Total alcohol per capita consumption in 2016 among male and female drinkers worldwide was on average 19.4 litres of pure alcohol for males and 7.0 litres for females. Rates of alcohol-induced deaths have risen over the past 2 decades, with a sharp increase during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the period, the largest overall annual increase occurred between 2019 and 2020, where the rate increased 26%, from 10.4 per 100,000 standard population to 13.1. During this 2019–2020 period, males and females each had their largest year-to-year percentage increase over the study period, at 26% and 27%, respectively.

The Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) has been developed by WHO to dynamically present data on levels and patterns of alcohol consumption, alcohol-attributable health and social consequences and policy responses at all levels. “Alcohol is a very cheap, widely available, and socially acceptable drug,” said Katie Witkiewitz, PhD, director of the Center on Alcohol, Substance Use, and Addictions (CASAA) at the University of New Mexico. Against that backdrop, and the dizzying scale of the problem, efforts to address alcohol misuse can feel like drops in a bucket. But researchers are learning more about identifying people at risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD), opening doors to new paths for prevention. Psychologists are well positioned to make an impact—treating people for addiction and helping to address the stigma, societal beliefs, and mental health struggles that go hand in hand with drinking. There are gender differences in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity, as well as levels and patterns of alcohol consumption.

A variety of factors which affect the levels and patterns of alcohol consumption and the magnitude of alcohol-related problems in populations have been identified at individual and societal levels. In the United States, deaths tied to excessive alcohol use rose 29 percent in just five years, according to federal data out this week, an increase that has alarmed experts and devastated many people who have lost loved ones. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already said the overall number of such deaths rose in 2020 and 2021.

The harmful use of alcohol causes a high burden of disease and has significant social and economic consequences. This rise in alcohol-related deaths is “most likely going to hold steady,” Siegel said, unless the U.S. takes action in response to the problem. For example, research shows that raising taxes on alcohol can bring down consumption, according to both Esser and Siegel. It’s also a risk to others through drunken driving or alcohol-fueled violence.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

NEW YORK — The rate of deaths that can be directly attributed to alcohol rose nearly 30% in the U.S. during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new government data. When people think about AUD treatment, they usually imagine peer-support programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Indeed, evidence shows such 12-step programs are effective (Kelly, J. F., et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020). Besides AA, other mutual-help programs, such as SMART Recovery, have been gaining ground. Multiple medications have also been approved to treat alcohol dependence, by reducing cravings or triggering unpleasant side effects if a person drinks.

1. More than 140,000 of that broader category of alcohol-related deaths occur annually, based on data from 2015 to 2019, the researchers said.
2. There are things you can do to lower the risk of alcohol-related deaths.
3. There are gender differences in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity, as well as levels and patterns of alcohol consumption.
4. Those deaths included acute causes like car crashes and alcohol poisoning, as well as chronic conditions such as liver disease or cancer.
5. Surveys suggest that more than half the alcohol sold in the U.S. is consumed during binge drinking episodes.
6. Multiple medications have also been approved to treat alcohol dependence, by reducing cravings or triggering unpleasant side effects if a person drinks.

Health, safety and socioeconomic problems attributable to alcohol can be reduced when governments formulate and implement appropriate policies. A  causal relationship has been established between harmful drinking and incidence or outcomes of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV. Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs in America, and it is also one of the deadliest, with more and more people losing their lives to alcohol-related causes over the last two decades. A new report reveals how the problem has become more acute in recent years. Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, joins William Brangham to discuss.

Data source and methods

Such deaths are 2 1/2 times more common in men than in women, but rose for both in 2020, the study found. The rate continued to be highest for people ages 55 to 64, but rose dramatically for certain other groups, including jumping 42% among women ages 35 to 44. If you drink too often, misuse alcohol like binge drink, or drink to the point of blacking out, it can cause many physical and mental health issues in the long term. It can also lead to alcohol use disorder, a form of addiction. By working together effectively, the negative health and social consequences of alcohol can be reduced.

Driving under the influence of alcohol is dangerous because it affects your ability to reason, think clearly, judge, or follow traffic laws. It puts your life and the safety of those around you at risk, too. On average, drunk driving kills around 28 people per day in the U.S. Explore statistics on alcohol-related deaths and emergency visits in the United States. Find out how many people have alcohol use disorder in the United States across age groups and demographics. Although alcohol can cause harm at low doses, certain patterns of use are more problematic than others.

Among males, the largest percentage increases in death rates from 2019 to 2020 were for age groups under 45.

She added that the research points to a need to look at steps to reduce alcohol consumption, including increasing alcohol taxes and enacting measures that limit where people can buy beer, wine and liquor. More than 140,000 of that broader category of alcohol-related deaths occur annually, based on data from 2015 to 2019, the researchers said. CDC researchers say about 82,000 of those deaths are from drinking too much over a long period of time and 58,000 from causes tied to acute intoxication.

Reducing the burden from harmful use of alcohol

“There is variability in terms of what motivates a person to drink, even from one day to the next,” said Cassandra Boness, PhD, a research assistant professor at the University of New Mexico’s CASAA. Roughly 29.5 million people in the United States have AUD, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Heavy drinking costs the country more than $249 million annually (Sacks, J. J., et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 49, No. 5, 2015) and causes 232 million missed workdays each year (Parsley, I. C., et al., JAMA Network Open, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2022).

Surveys suggest that more than half the alcohol sold in the U.S. is consumed during binge drinking episodes. The rate of such deaths had been increasing in the two decades before the pandemic, by 7% or less each year. Psychologists can also make inroads with patients by screening them for alcohol use and helping them address high-risk behaviors. More people are experimenting with cutting back, with movements like “dry January” and alcohol-free mocktails becoming mainstream. “It’s a great time for people to explore alternative ways of being social—even for people without AUD. Every time we reduce alcohol we experience better health,” Witkiewitz said.