Working-age Americans are dying from drinking-related diseases at a rate of 1 in 10.
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Working-age Americans are drinking themselves to death at alarming rates, according to a new report from the Centers of Disease Control.
One in 10 deaths of U.S. adults between the ages of 20 and 64 is linked to excessive alcohol use, the study revealed. The deaths, which number about 88,000 between 2006 and 2010, were blamed on long-term causes such as breast cancer, liver disease and heart disease, as well as short-term ones like violence, alcohol poisoning and car crashes.
“Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death that kills many Americans in the prime of their lives,” said Ursula E. Bauer, director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
About 70 percent of the casualties are men, while 5 percent involved people younger than the official drinking age of 21. New Jersey boasted the lowest rate of death caused by excessive drinking, at 19.1 per 100,000; New Mexico was the highest with 51 in 100,000.
The CDC defined excessive drinking as binge drinking (four or more drinks on an occasion for women; five or more for men), heavy drinking (eight or more drinks a week for women, 15 or more drinks a week for men), and any alcohol use by pregnant women or those under 21.
For more information, visit the CDC’s Alcohol and Public Health website, or call1-800-662-HELP to get help from the national Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service.
