Whats behind the stunning rise in alcohol-related deaths

Deaths from causes fully attributable to alcohol use have increased during the past 2 decades in the United States, particularly from 2019 to 2020, concurrent with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, previous studies of trends have not assessed underlying causes of deaths that are partially attributable to alcohol use, such as injuries or certain types of cancer. Average annual number of deaths from excessive alcohol use increased 29.3%, from 137,927 during 2016–2017 to 178,307 during 2020–2021; age-standardized alcohol-related death rates increased from 38.1 to 47.6 per 100,000 population. During this time, deaths from excessive alcohol use among males increased 26.8%, from 94,362 per year to 119,606, and among females increased 34.7%, from 43,565 per year to 58,701. Rises in alcohol deaths may be attributed to a variety of factors including, in part, increases in drinking and low treatment rates. Alcohol consumption and some indicators of binge drinking have been on the rise in recent years, particularly among some demographic groups.

For people ages 20 to 64, drinking-related deaths accounted for 1 in 8, the study said. 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. More government data points to alcohol’s increasing role in U.S deaths, including a new report that found that the alcohol-induced death rate rose nearly 30% during the first year of the COVID pandemic.

This data is based on the following sources

You can also have a sparkling water in between drinks or make weaker cocktails than usual to reduce your alcohol consumption, she said previously. The second report, published earlier this week in JAMA Network Open, looked at a wider range of deaths that could be linked to drinking, such as motor vehicle accidents, suicides, falls and cancers. 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. Effective treatment options for substance use disorders exist, but treatment coverage remains incredibly low.

A British tourist being treated after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos has died, according to UK officials. Det Gda Durcan said Ms Thomas was wearing her seat belt when the crash occurred. He indicated that the impact of the crash led Ms Dunne, who was in the front-passenger seat, to fall on top of Ms Thomas. Det Gda Durcan said that roof had to be cut off the vehicle in order to extricate the women.

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

And while alcohol is a liquid, it can still pack on empty calories, Gray death is the latest, “scariest” opioid drug threat and drinking too much may lead to obesity. Over time there is a progression of liver disease from hepatitis (inflammation) to fibrosis (hardening) and eventually to scarring of the tissue (cirrhosis). By the time a person reaches end-stage alcoholism, drinking has taken over their lives and has likely had a negative impact on relationships, work or school, finances, and overall health. If a person tries to quit drinking on their own during end-stage alcoholism, they may experience severe symptoms of withdrawal, including tremors and hallucinations. One of the most severe consequences of alcohol withdrawal is called delirium tremens (“the DTs”), which if left untreated, can be fatal. 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.

According to the American Dietary Guidelines, moderate alcohol intake includes two drinks or less in a day for men or one drink or less in a day for women. So it’s your liver’s job to detoxify and remove alcohol from your blood. The liver breaks down alcohol into acetaldehyde, a toxic substance that scars and inflames the liver. This chemical also interferes with the liver’s ability to break down and metabolize fats.

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. Treating the alcohol use disorder, along with the health problems caused by chronic, heavy drinking, may be possible. The first step will likely be a medically supervised detox, which will help rid your body of toxins and manage the symptoms of withdrawal. While there’s no official diagnosis for end-stage alcoholism, your doctor will be able to diagnose you with an alcohol use disorder and be able to identify your stage based on the severity and amount of time you’ve been misusing alcohol as well as your current health. She recommends starting with one less drink than you would usually have at each occasion or breaking a daily habit by limiting drinking to certain days.

1. Existing shortages of mental health and substance use treatment professionals may make it particularly difficult to access care in rural areas, where the supply of behavioral health workforce is even more scarce.
2. Rates of current drinking were highest among 15–19-year-olds in the European region (45.9%) followed by the Americas (43.9%).
3. Federal survey data show that in 2022, only 7.6% of people (12+) with a past year alcohol use disorder received any treatment.

Things You Can Do to Prevent Alcohol-Related Deaths

That’s the highest rate recorded in at least 40 years, said the study’s lead author, Merianne Spencer. The rate of such deaths had been increasing in the two decades before the pandemic, by 7% or less each year. “Alcohol is often overlooked” as a public health problem, said Marissa Esser, who leads the CDC’s alcohol program. 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.

in 5 deaths of US adults 20 to 49 is from excessive drinking, study shows

The death rates due to alcohol consumption per litre of alcohol consumed are highest in low-income countries and lowest in high-income countries. A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7% of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use. Notably, 2 million of alcohol and 0.4 million of drug-attributable deaths were among men. In 2022, New Mexico’s death rate was the highest at 42.7 per 100,000 people, which was more than six times higher than Hawaii, the state with the lowest rate at 7.1 per 100,000 people (Figure 4).

The data showed that the deaths fully attributable to alcohol have risen in the past decade, Esser added. The percentage of deaths attributed to alcohol use varied state by state, but nationally it’s a leading cause of preventable death, said lead study author Dr. Marissa Esser, lwho leads the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s alcohol program. The rise of home delivery services for alcohol enabled people to avoid stepping outside and possibly getting sick, but also further isolated them, Siegel said. Other policy changes, like permitting alcohol to be carried in to-go cups, posed “a risk factor for excessive alcohol use,” Esser said.