Alcohol behind one in 10 deaths among working-age US adults

Excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for one in 10 deaths among working-age adults aged 20-64 years in the US, a new study has warned.
According to a report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 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 in the US.
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.
Nearly 70 per cent of deaths due to excessive drinking involved working-age adults, and about 70 per cent of the deaths involved males.
About 5 per cent 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).

"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 Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Excessive drinking includes binge drinking (4 or more drinks on an occasion for women, 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men), heavy drinking (8 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 the minimum legal drinking age of 21.
To estimate deaths due to excessive drinking, CDC scientists analysed data from the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) application for 2006-2010.
"It's shocking to see the public health impact of excessive drinking on working-age adults," said Robert Brewer, head of CDC's Alcohol Programme and one of the report's authors.

The study was published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.