Alcohol-Related Emergencies and Deaths in the United States
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- The rate of all alcohol-related emergency department visits increased 47.0% between 2006 and 2014, which translates to an average annual increase of 210,000 alcohol-related emergency department visits.1
- Estimates suggest that alcohol played a role in at least 7.1% of emergency department visits and 17.4% of deaths due to opioid overdoses in 2020.2,3
- The Alcohol-Related Disease Impact application estimates that each year there are more than 178,000 deaths (approximately 120,000 male deaths and 59,000 female deaths) attributable to excessive alcohol use, making alcohol one of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States, behind tobacco, poor diet and physical inactivity, and illegal drugs.4,5
- An analysis of death certificates showed that deaths involving alcohol among people ages 16 and older rose 25.5%, from 78,927 in 2019 to 99,017 in 2020, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths in this same age group increased another 9.9%, to 108,791 in 2021, and then decreased by 3.1%, to 105,415 in 2022.6
- Between 2015 and 2019, the leading causes of alcohol-attributable deaths due to chronic conditions in the United States were liver diseases (e.g., alcohol-associated liver disease and unspecified liver cirrhosis), cardiovascular diseases, cancers of various types (e.g., organs of the upper respiratory and digestive tracts, liver, colon, and breast), and alcohol use disorder (AUD).4
- In 2022, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 13,524 deaths (or 32% of overall driving fatalities).7
- According to the most recent estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 21.0% of suicide decedents have blood alcohol concentrations of 0.1% or more.8
- Among people who die by suicide, AUD is the second most common mental disorder and involved in roughly 1 in 4 deaths by suicide.9
If you need suicide- or mental health-related crisis support, or are worried about someone else, please call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat with Lifeline to connect with a trained crisis counselor. To find alcohol treatment for yourself or an adult loved one, visit the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator.
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According to CDC, due to scientific updates to Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI), estimates of alcohol-attributable deaths or years of potential life lost generated in the current version of ARDI should not be compared with estimates that were generated using the ARDI default reports or analyses in the ARDI Custom Data Portal prior to February 29, 2024.