Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and cost the country $249 billion in 2010 in lost productivity, health care and criminal justice. Using its Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) application, CDC estimated deaths and years of potential life lost (YPLL) from excessive drinking — both from a person's own drinking (such as liver disease) and from others' (such as passengers killed in alcohol-related crashes).
The toll, each year of 2011–2015
| Deaths | 95,158 — 261 a day |
| Years of potential life lost | 2.8 million (2,763,055) — 29 years per death on average |
| Age-adjusted death rate | 28.0 per 100,000 |
| YPLL per 100,000 | 873.0 |
| Male | 67,943 deaths (71.4%) and 71.0% of YPLL |
| Type of cause | Deaths | Share of YPLL |
|---|---|---|
| Chronic conditions | 51,078 (53.7%) | 40.0% |
| Acute conditions — all from binge drinking | 44,080 (46.3%) | 60.0% |
Acute deaths take younger lives, so they account for most of the years lost. Conditions caused entirely by alcohol made up 29,068 deaths (30.5%) and 27.6% of YPLL.
| Age | Deaths |
|---|---|
| 35–64 | 52,921 (55.6%) |
| 65 and older | 24,972 (26.2%) |
| 20–34 | 14,819 (15.6%) |
Leading causes
- Alcoholic liver disease — the top chronic cause: 18,164 deaths a year (12,887 men, 5,277 women).
- Poisonings involving alcohol plus another substance (such as drug overdoses) — the top acute cause overall (11,839) and for women (4,315).
- Suicide linked to excessive drinking — the top acute cause for men (7,711).
Average yearly deaths from excessive alcohol use, by sex and age group, 2011–2015. CDC / MMWR
Across the states
| Lowest | Highest | |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths per year | 203 — Vermont | 11,026 — California |
| YPLL per year | 5,085 — Vermont | 308,831 — California |
| Age-adjusted death rate (40 states with reliable data) | 20.8 — New York | 53.1 — New Mexico |
| YPLL per 100,000 | 631.9 — New York | 1,683.5 — New Mexico |
Rates varied about twofold — but deaths from excessive drinking were common everywhere. Differences may partly reflect patterns of binge drinking, shaped by state alcohol pricing and availability, and access to medical care.
Little progress
Deaths and YPLL were slightly higher than in 2006–2010, and age-adjusted death rates similar. Deaths from alcohol dependence rose 14.2% (from 3,728 to 4,258 a year) and from alcoholic liver disease 23.6% (from 14,695 to 18,164), in line with rising alcohol-induced deaths and per-capita drinking over two decades.
What would help
The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends proven strategies such as raising alcohol taxes and regulating the number and concentration of alcohol outlets. These complement other efforts, such as safer opioid prescribing and alcohol-impaired driving interventions.
These estimates are conservative: drinking is under-reported in surveys; former drinkers are left out for partly alcohol-related causes; some estimates rely on older data; conditions such as tuberculosis and HIV weren't included; and only the underlying cause of death was counted.
Sources
Based on Marissa B. Esser, Adam Sherk, Yong Liu and others, "Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost From Excessive Alcohol Use — United States, 2011–2015," MMWR, volume 69 (corrected and republished October 2, 2020), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The figures are from the republished report: a data input error in the ARDI application had undercounted the original results, first published July 31, 2020.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
1
0
0
0
Comments
