Health
Alcohol Death Toll Jumps 30% in the United States
According to new official data, the mortality rate related to alcohol increased by nearly 30% in the United States during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such deaths increased between 2020 and 2021. This week’s CDC data revealed more information on which demographics have the greatest death rates and which states have the highest percentages.
“Alcohol is frequently disregarded” as a public health issue, according to Marissa Esser, the CDC’s alcohol program director. “However, it is a major preventable cause of death.”
Research on Friday focused on more than a dozen “alcohol-induced” deaths attributed to drinking. Alcohol-caused liver or pancreas failure, alcohol poisoning, withdrawal, and other disorders are examples. Last year, there were over 52,000 such deaths, up from 39,000 in 2019.
In the two decades preceding the pandemic, the rate of such deaths had been increasing by 7% or less per year.
They were up 26% in 2020, to around 13 deaths per 100,000 Americans. According to the study’s lead author, Marianne Spencer, this is the highest rate in at least 40 years.
Excessive drinking of Alcohol
According to the report, such deaths are two and a half times more likely in males than women, but both increased in 2020. The rate remained highest for persons aged 55 to 64, but it increased considerably for some other categories, including a 42% increase for women aged 35 to 44.
The second study, published earlier this week in JAMA Network Open, looked at a broader spectrum of mortality that could be linked to alcohol, such as car accidents, suicides, falls, and malignancies.
According to data from 2015 to 2019, more than 140,000 of the broader categories of alcohol-related deaths occur each year. According to CDC experts, around 82,000 deaths result from excessive drinking over a lengthy period of time, and 58,000 are the result of causes related to acute intoxication.
According to the study, alcohol was responsible for up to one in every eight deaths among U.S. individuals aged 20 to 64. New Mexico had the greatest percentage of alcohol-related deaths, at 22%. Mississippi had the lowest rate, at 9%.
Excessive drinking is linked to long-term risks such as liver cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. Drinking while pregnant might result in miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth abnormalities. Health professionals say alcohol is a factor in up to one-third of major falls among the elderly.
It also puts others in danger through drunken driving or alcohol-fueled aggression. According to surveys, more than half of the alcohol sold in the United States is consumed during binge drinking episodes.
Even before the epidemic, alcohol use in the United States increased, with Americans drinking more than before Prohibition. However, mortality may have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began for various reasons, including persons with alcohol-related disorders having more difficulty accessing medical care, according to Esser.
She said that the data suggests that initiatives to curb alcohol consumption, such as raising alcohol taxes and establishing legislation restricting where people can buy beer, wine, and liquor, are necessary.
Young American Deaths on the Rise
