Alcohol-related deaths have seen an increase
(Mirror Daily, United States) – It’s an unfortunate truth that more Americans are drinking themselves to death than ever before. A study highlighted the fact that the death rate caused by the abuse of alcohol has increased since the 1990s, and it doesn’t seem to stop.
In 2014, over 30,700 people in the United States died due to alcohol-related causes, such as cirrhosis or alcohol poisoning. That means prolonged periods of time where they indulged in multiple drinks, enough to cause an actual disease. According to the researchers, there are 9.6 deaths per 100,000 people due to alcohol abuse.
This has seen a 37% increase since 2002.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that around 2,200 Americans die each year due to alcohol poisoning alone. The rest are caused by conditions that result after prolonged abuse. It increases the rate of death to tragic proportions, and brings alcohol as a more prevalent cause in the U.S. .
The numbers were drawn without taking alcohol-induced car accidents or homicide under the influence of alcohol into consideration. According to the researchers, if they had, that would’ve lifted the numbers to around 90,000 deaths per year. The annual toll has been seeing a gradual rise, and it’s even overtaking a couple of problems that the U.S. is infamously facing.
For example, alcohol related deaths have managed to surpass the yearly death toll of prescription drugs and heroin combined, at over 28,600. The latter has been deemed as a growing problem in the country, and yet it’s being surpassed. According to Philip J. Cook, a researcher from Duke University, this is because more people are drinking more. So, the problem has to be tackled on two fronts.
There has been an increase in binge drinkers in the U.S., from 54.9% in 2002 to 56.9% in 2014. It’s a small, but not insignificant rise in numbers that has resulted in thousands of more deaths. The biggest increase though, has been witnessed in women. The total of women who drink monthly has gone up from 47.9% in 2002 to 51.9% in 2014.
The numbers have also increased for women who are binge drinking (meaning 5 or more drinks one after another). The percentage has gone up from 15.7% to 17.4%. Still, men have remained the biggest consumers of alcoholic beverages, and currently make 76% of all deaths due to alcohol poisoning.
These are worrying results, as it seems the prevalence of the habit is growing. It’s not only a matter of car accidents, but one that indicated the average American is slowly drinking themselves to death. At the very least, the population has begun indulging enough to cause life-threatening conditions.
Image source: health.howstuffworks.com
Matthew Slotkin
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