Skip to main content

1999 to 2020 Saw Twofold Increase in Alcohol-Related Mortality in the U.S.

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Nov 25, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Nov. 25, 2024 -- From 1999 to 2020, there was a significant approximately twofold increase in alcohol-related mortality in the United States, according to a study published online Nov. 10 in The American Journal of Medicine.

Alexandra Matarazzo, from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, and colleagues explored trends in alcohol-related mortality from 1999 to 2020 overall and by age, gender, race, and region using publicly available data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research.

The researchers identified 19,356 alcohol-related deaths in 1999, for a mortality rate of 10.7 per 100,000. By 2020, this number increased to 48,870 alcohol-related deaths or 21.6 per 100,000. The mortality rate ratio was significantly increased by about twofold. Significant increases were seen in all 10-year age groups, with those aged 25 to 34 years having the largest increase (3.8-fold). Increases of 2.5-fold were seen for women, 2.4-fold for Asians and Pacific Islanders, and 2.5-fold for the Midwest region.

"These data demonstrate significant twofold increasing trends in U.S. mortality from deaths in alcohol-related mortality from 1999 to 2020," the authors write. "They [create] significant clinical and public health challenges as well as the need for further research."

One author disclosed ties to Amgen and UBC.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted November 2024

Read this next

Less Than Half of Adults Aware of Link Between Alcohol, Cancer

THURSDAY, June 5, 2025 -- Less than half of U.S. adults are aware of the association between alcohol and cancer, according to a research letter published online May 29 in JAMA...

Low Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment Rates Seen in Cancer Survivors

THURSDAY, May 29, 2025 -- For U.S. adult cancer survivors with a new alcohol use disorder (AUD) diagnosis, the one-year cumulative incidence of AUD treatment initiation was 14.3...

ASCO: Alcohol-Associated Cancer Mortality Increased From 1990 to 2021

TUESDAY, May 27, 2025 -- Alcohol-associated cancer mortality increased from 1990 to 2021, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.