Past studies have shown that the rate of accidental alcohol overdose (or "alcohol poisoning") death in the U.S. is very low when alcohol is the sole cause of death, but increases markedly when multiple causes of death are considered.

For the latest study, researchers looked at data from the National Center for Health Statistics and found that while an average of 317 people died annually from alcohol poisoning between 1996 and 1998, an additional 1,076 people died annually, on average, in incidents where alcohol poisoning was identified as a contributing cause.

Other drug use was the most common additional underlying cause of death, accounting for 89 percent of cases. Deaths from suicide and alcohol-related injuries stemming from motor-vehicle crashes, drowning, or other causes accounted for just 5 percent of deaths with a contributing cause of alcohol poisoning.

Eighty percent of those who died as the result of alcohol poisoning or multiple causes were male, with Hispanic men at the greatest risk.

Surprisingly, however, most alcohol-poisoning deaths did not occur among young people, despite highly publicized incidents of alcohol-related deaths on college campuses. The average age of alcohol-poisoning victims was 43.5 years old. Only 2 percent of deaths occurred among people under age 21.

The overall death rate related to alcohol poisoning was 0.49 per 100,000 population.

The study was conducted by Young-Hee Yoon, Ph.D. and Hsiao-ye Yi, Ph.D. -- both researchers working on the Alcohol Epidemiological Data System project -- and Mary C. Dufour, M.D., M.P.H., of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Results were released at the recent annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, held in San Francisco, Calif.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

SUBMIT A COMMENT:

Submissions are held for review and approval.
Please read the guidelines before posting.

Name:
Comment: (limit 250 words)
Enter this word (help):	Change

Guidelines for comments