The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released new numbers this past month regarding alcohol effects in America. The study looked at data from years 2006-2010 and looked at alcohol-attributable deaths (AAD), as well as years of life potentially lost (YPLL) due to excessive alcohol use.
Here are two quotes from the report:
Excessive drinking accounted for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults in the United States. Among working-age adults, 9.8% of all deaths in the United States during this period were attributable to excessive drinking, and 69% of all AAD involved working-age adults.
The majority of the average annual AAD involved males (71%); over half of AAD and two-thirds of YPLL resulted from acute causes of death, all of which were by definition attributable to binge drinking. About 5% of all average annual AAD and 10% of average annual YPLL involved those under age 21 years, most of which were due to acute conditions.
The report also states that these figures are not significantly different from the previous study which was done. It is clear we need to continue to educate teens about binge drinking, in particular, and about how to have a healthier relationship to alcohol.