Alcohol-related deaths are on the rise

The intense focus on the opioid epidemic may have obscured an even greater threat to American health: alcohol.

A new study published in JAMA finds that alcohol-related deaths increased dramatically between 2000 and 2016. The spike in alcohol-related mortality was particularly great for women.

According to the study, which was based on data from the Centers for Disease Control, more than 425,000 deaths during the timeframe could be attributed to either alcohol overdoses, alcohol-induced accidents or alcohol-induced liver disease.

Related: Alcohol addiction or diabetes: Which costs patients more?

Men accounted for the great majority of fatalities (76 percent) but the rate of alcohol-induced death for women increased at a much faster pace –– between 3.1 and 3.6 percent each year. For men, the rate increased between 1.4 and 1.8 percent every year.

The uptick has become particularly pronounced in recent years. Between 2013 and 16, the rate increased at an average of 7.1 percent annually for women and 4.6 percent for men.

Alcoholic liver disease is by far the most common alcohol-related cause of death, accounting for 60 percent of the male and 69 percent of the female deaths in 2016. ALD encompasses a range of conditions, including fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis.

The study classified most of the remaining deaths in 2016 to “accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol or mental and behavioral disorders due to alcohol.” That accounted for 35 percent of deaths for men and 28 percent for women.

The study’s lead author, Susan Spillane, told Health Day that the study understated the impact that alcohol has on American health.

“Rates of alcohol-induced deaths, as documented in our study, are bellwethers of a far larger public health problem, as these rates capture only a portion of all alcohol-related deaths and say nothing of alcohol-related morbidities,” she said.

Pat Aussem, director of clinical content and development for the Center on Addiction, offered several tips to help curb the trend:

• Regular screening by doctors for substance addiction and mental disorders
• Better public education about CDC guidelines for alcohol consumption
• Increased access to affordable treatment for substance abuse
• Stricter state and local laws pertaining to liquor stores

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