Alcohol Related Deaths most Common among Working-Age Adults: CDC

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows how many preventable deaths in the United States are due to a high intake of alcohol among working-age adults.

"It's really important to drive home that excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death," said ead author Katy Gonzales, alcohol epidemiologist at the Michigan Department of Community Health, via a press release. "It really is right up there with tobacco and physical inactivity, especially among working-age adults."

The federal report addresses alcohol-related deaths in 11 states, showing that more than two-thirds of preventable deaths are related to excessive drinking for those between the ages of 20 and 64. In fact, from 2006 to 2010, alcohol was the cause of death for a median of 1,650 adults per year.

The 11 states examined in the study were Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

To study these areas, the researchers used a computer model to calculate drinking-related deaths. The model utilized a list of 54 alcohol-related complications that assess how drinking was connected to deaths in the area. Alcohol-related deaths ranged from a wide variety of instances, including firearm injuries, hypothermia, drowning, car crashes and serious health ailments, such as cancer, liver disease, hypertension, stroke and fetal alcohol syndrome.

Of all the states, New Mexico carried the highest death rate due to alcohol with a rate of about 51 deaths per 100,000 people. Utah had the lowest rate at 22.4 alcohol-related deaths per 100,000.

"We don't seem to understand that addiction is a brain disease," President and CEO of High Watch Recovery Center, Janina Kean said according to Medical Xpress. "We don't blame people with diabetes or heart disease or cancer, but we seem to think people suffering from addiction have chosen to do what they do."

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More information regarding the study was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.