An estimated 1 in 5 deaths of people between 20 to 49 was attributable to excessive alcohol use in the United States, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. 1 in 8 deaths among those between the ages of 20 and 64 were caused by drinking.
Even though the legal drinking age in the United States is 21, researchers looked at more than 690,000 fatalities of people aged 20 to 64 between 2015 and 2019. Around 12% of deaths within the entire cohort, according to specialists, were caused by excessive drinking; among persons aged 20 to 49, this number rose to nearly 20%.
What is ‘excessive drinking’?
The most prevalent type of excessive drinking is known as “binge drinking,” which is defined as four or more drinks in one sitting for women and five or more drinks in one sitting for males. For women, heavy drinking is defined as 8 or more drinks per week, whereas for men, it’s defined as 15 or more drinks per week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “excessive drinking” refers to any alcohol usage by a person who is pregnant or under the age of 21 as well as binge drinking and heavy drinking.
Although researchers in the study released on Tuesday claimed there was no information attributing “deaths owing to partially alcohol-attributable problems,” excessive alcohol use can cause a variety of diseases and physical ailments. The CDC defines alcohol-related deaths as those that can be directly linked to binge drinking, including liver disease and alcohol poisoning.
This study looked at all “premature deaths” that may have involved alcohol and discovered that the causes varied slightly by age group. Adults aged 20 to 35 years had “other poisonings,” auto accidents, and homicide as the top three causes of alcohol-related death, whereas those aged 35 to 49 years were more likely to die of alcoholic liver disease than from homicide.
Additionally, the figures varied significantly by gender and state. 15% of the alcohol-related deaths across all age groups were in men, whereas 9% were in women.
Mississippi had the lowest percentage of alcohol related deaths among individuals 20 to 64 years old
Mississippi had the lowest percentage of deaths among individuals 20 to 64 years old that could be attributed to alcohol at 9%, while New Mexico had the highest percentage at 21% of all fatalities. Researchers found that the proportion of fatalities linked to alcohol was “typically lower in states in the Southeast and greater in the West, upper Midwest, and New England.”
Over 14,000 adult deaths in the United States are attributed to excessive alcohol use, according to the CDC.
The data has some limitations, not the least of which is the exclusion of fatalities of people who had used alcohol in the past but had stopped later in life. Additionally, people frequently underreport their alcohol intake, so the actual figures may be higher, according to researchers.
More Americans also engaged in heavy drinking and illegal drug use during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have further inflated the figures.
Dr. Marissa Esser, the primary study author and director of the CDC’s alcohol program, told the New York Times that “this is truly harming adults in the prime of their lives.” Evidence-based tactics are available but underutilized.
Researchers have suggested several tactics, such as raising alcohol pricing, alcohol screening, and quick interventions.
Reports by NTSB and NHTSA
At least one of those alternatives was put forward earlier this year when the National Transportation Safety Board suggested that all new cars sold in the US be fitted with technologies that can detect drunken driving and prevent it.
If the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration follows the advice, alcohol-related crashes, which are one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities in the United States, may decline.
The NTSB asserted that the proposal is intended to put pressure on NHTSA to act, even though it lacks regulatory jurisdiction and can only ask other agencies to take action. It might go into action as soon as three years.