Excessive alcohol consumption, including binge drinking, is responsible for 10 percent of deaths among working-age adults in the United States, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers used an online tool called the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact application to estimate alcohol-related deaths ranging from car crashes and alcohol poisoning to liver and heart disease. They defined binge drinking as at least five consecutive drinks for men and four consecutive drinks for women.
One in six adults from 20 to 65 reported binge drinking at least four times a month; the actual number is likely higher because subjects tend to underreport their drinking habits, the researchers said. The number of Americans who binge drink skyrocketed during the 1990s and leveled off in 2001, but the average frequency of binge drinking episodes is still rising.
Excessive drinking is the fourth leading cause of preventable death in the United States, after smoking, poor nutrition and physical inactivity.
"It's a huge public health problem any way you slice it," said Robert D. Brewer, a co-author of the paper and the director of the alcohol program at the C.D.C."There are things that we can do about it," like raising the alcohol tax and encouraging doctors to talk to their patients about alcohol abuse, "but a lot of those strategies tend to be underused."
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