Sobering news about detrimental effects of excessive alcohol drinking: Turning up the booze takes out one in 10 working age adults in the U.S., according to a report released by the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And more sobering news in yesterday’s report, Preventing Chronic Disease, about 70 percent of those deaths involve males. Working-age adults are ages 20-64 years.
Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths per year from 2006 to 2010, and shortened the lives of those who died by about 30 years. These deaths were due to health effects from drinking too much over time, such as breast cancer, liver disease, and heart disease; and health effects from drinking too much in a short period of time, such as violence, alcohol poisoning, and motor vehicle crashes. In total, there were 2.5 million years of potential life lost each year due to excessive alcohol use.
“Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death that kills many Americans in the prime of their lives,” said Ursula E. Bauer, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “We need to redouble our efforts to implement scientifically proven public health approaches to reduce this tragic loss of life and the huge economic costs that result.”
About 5 percent of the deaths involved people under age 21. The highest death rate due to excessive drinking was in New Mexico (51 deaths per 100,000 population), and the lowest was in New Jersey (19.1 per 100,000). Missouri reported 30.3 deaths per 100,000 population and Illinois reported 23.4 deaths per 100,000 population.
