Alcohol Facts and Statistics National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAAA

Alcohol has shortened the lifespan of those 88,000 human beings by 30 years. Alcohol is not only harmful to the individual, but it’s also harmful to society as a whole. Its negative effects are wide-ranging and can result in injuries, car accidents, violence, and sexual assault. Even with knowing this, alcohol is still more common than other drugs, and alcohol distributors and bartenders are not looked at like drug dealers who sell Heroin and Cocaine. Alcohol is different than other illicit substances that we know can cause overdose deaths because alcohol can also kill people slowly by deteriorating the body. We encourage future research using individual-level data to examine border effects on a wider range of alcohol- and drug-related outcomes and to control for individual-level characteristics.

Even with this knowledge, the general public still has a tendency to believe alcohol is ok, not dangerous, and an acceptable form of relaxation. Doctors often overlook alcohol as a contributing factor to an illness, such as congestive heart failure or atrial fibrillation. This approach to healthcare is slowly beginning to change as more healthcare professionals are trained to understand the signs and symptoms of substance use disorders and best practices in addiction treatment. However, we still have a long way to go before insurance companies recognize and provide coverage for substance use disorders on par with other chronic diseases. Older adults, too, have been imbibing more in recent years, with older women in particular showing an upward trend between 2002 and 2018 (White, A. M., et al., Alcohol, Vol. 107, No. 1, 2023). The JAMA study didn’t go as far as the Lancet article in linking low levels of drinking to mortality risk.

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Although there is no single risk factor that is dominant, the more vulnerabilities a person has, the more likely the person is to develop alcohol-related problems as a result of alcohol consumption. Poorer individuals experience greater health and social harms alcohol vs drugs from alcohol consumption than more affluent individuals. In the United States, mortality is rising, with more deaths than ever attributable to alcohol and drug poisoning and to suicide, in conjunction with increasing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recommends that physicians offer pharmacotherapy with behavioral interventions for patients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder. Several medications are available to help patients reduce drinking and maintain abstinence; however, in 2019, only 7.3% of Americans with alcohol use disorder received any treatment, and only 1.6% were prescribed medications to treat the disorder. Strong evidence shows that naltrexone and gabapentin reduce heavy-drinking days and that acamprosate prevents return-to-use in patients who are currently abstinent; moderate evidence supports the use of topiramate in decreasing heavy-drinking days. Disulfiram has been commonly prescribed, but little evidence supports its effectiveness outside of supervised settings. Other medications, including varenicline and baclofen, may be beneficial in reducing heavy alcohol use. Antidepressants do not decrease alcohol use in patients who do not have mood disorders, but they may help patients who meet criteria for depression to decrease their alcohol intake.

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Yet many other wealthy nations have seen rates of these so-called “deaths of despair” decreasing. Overall, the data show that from 2000 to 2017, drug poisoning, suicide, and alcohol caused 1.45 million premature deaths—450,000 more deaths than would be expected from 2000 rates. Though economic factors may have played a role in these unexpected increases, the researchers conclude that no single cause, demographic group, or region explains these trends, suggesting the need for numerous specifically targeted interventions. Recent anecdotal data suggests from suicide hotlines and suicide text services have increased dramatically as COVID-19 has spread. Anxiety, by itself, can increase relapses in treated psychiatric illnesses including depression and also substance use disorders. New SUDs can develop among people who had not had one beforehand.

In most cases, presenting findings from two different years would seem to benefit those with the most recent results. Granted, a binge drinking rate of 25.8% falls short of the predicted 29.4% rise in drug overdose deaths. But the estimated 95,000 annual alcohol-related deaths obviously tops the 93,331 fatal overdoses. More importantly, those alcohol results are from 2019 rather than 2020 and don’t take Covid into account.

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A person experiencing a problem with alcohol might reach for a golden bottle of tequila, splash some in a heavy glass and wake up hours later wondering where the night went. American Addiction Centers (AAC) is committed to delivering original, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and medically current information. We strive to create content that is clear, concise, and easy to understand. If you or a loved one struggles with polysubstance misuse or addiction, help is available.

Besides AA, other mutual-help programs, such as SMART Recovery, have been gaining ground. Multiple medications have also been approved to treat alcohol dependence, by reducing cravings or triggering unpleasant side effects if a person drinks. Though the physical wakes left by alcohol and drugs differ, it is crucial to understand addiction in terms of its total cost to human beings.

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Another 27 million people use illegal drugs or misuse prescription drugs. It is undeniable by the numbers that alcohol abuse is more prevalent than any substance on the market, and when you look at alcohol deaths vs other drugs, you can see why this is a big problem. There are gender differences in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity, as well as levels and patterns of alcohol consumption. The percentage of alcohol-attributable deaths among men amounts to 7.7 % of all global deaths compared to 2.6 % of all deaths among women.

• Find out how many people have alcohol use disorder in the United States across age groups and demographics.
• Many studies over the past 20 years have suggested that people who have a drink a day or less may have a lower risk of cancer, heart disease, or all-cause mortality than those who abstain from drinking.
• We offer the Alumni program for continued support after alcohol rehabilitation, where you can connect with counselors and peers, and avoid becoming an alcohol deaths vs other drugs statistic.

Systematic policies are needed to expand the use of medications when treating alcohol use disorder in inpatient and outpatient populations. Due to the nature of alcohol deaths vs other drugs, we address your emotional and mental health. Highly trained therapists provide counseling and stress management techniques to aid you in your process of recovery. CBT cognitive behavioral therapy and EDMR eye movement desensitization and reprocessing are innovative treatments that we use to treat alcohol addiction’s destructive tendencies. Alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of death in the US The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has reported that alcohol causes 88,000 deaths each year.