Alcohol kills more people a year than the opioid crisis, and most deaths are young women

In the United States, alcohol kills more adults than the opioid epidemic, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The opioid epidemic kills on average 72,000 people a year, while alcohol kills 88,000. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, these 88,000 deaths represent 2, 5 million years of potential life lost.

The increase in the number of deaths related to alcohol is new. In ten years, the number of deaths due to alcohol has increased by 35%, according to the new report released Friday by USA Today. The statistics are based on the results from 2007 to 2017.

Young women are the most affected by the growing alcohol epidemic. The number of deaths among women increased by 67%, while that of men increased by only 27%.

Women are more likely to risk alcohol-related because they usually weigh less than men and may feel the effects of alcohol faster, according to the National Institute of Anti-Aging. alcoholism, abuse and alcoholism. The complications that most affect women who drink excessively are liver damage, heart disease, breast cancer and complications of pregnancy.

Alcohol-related deaths are on the rise and most affected women are young or middle-aged women. FRED DUFOUR / AFP / Getty Images

According to a survey conducted by the institute in 2015, 9.3% of women surveyed had used alcohol during pregnancy in the month prior to the survey. 51.1% of women drank alcohol in general, 22% of them indulging in excessive alcohol consumption the previous month. 61.3% of men consumed alcohol during the month preceding the survey and 32.1% of cases of excessive consumption of alcohol.

5.4% of the drinkers received help for an alcohol-related disorder, while 7.4% of men benefited from it.

The alcohol-related death rate among teens is down 16%, while the number of alcohol-related deaths among 45- to 64-year-olds has been increasing. about 25%.

Deaths related to over-consumption of alcohol are not necessarily instantaneous. Most causes are related to problems caused over time by excessive consumption, such as cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, cancer and suicide.

In terms of location, the District of Columbia is at the top of the list for most alcohol-related deaths. Then come Georgia and Alabama. States with less stringent alcohol control policies, such as Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and Wyoming, have higher blood alcohol content than those in the United States. which apply stricter restrictions.

Psychologist Benjamin Miller wondered why, while alcohol-related deaths exceeded opioid deaths, the culture of alcohol use continued to be so. "Culturally, we made it acceptable to drink, but not to go out and get heroin stung," said Miller, "Many people will read this and say," What's wrong? "