BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Having a beer, cocktail, or a glass of wine may seem so normal you don't even think about pouring another. But a new study says you should start to pay more attention to how many is too many.
The study, published by JAMA Network Open, revealed that 1 in 5, or 20.3%, deaths of people ages 20-49 were attributed to excessive alcohol use. For people ages 20 to 64, drinking-related deaths accounted for 1 in 8, or 12.9%. The study examined 694,660 mean deaths per year between 2015 and 2019.
"People are consuming alcohol at levels that are really detrimental to their overall mental and physical health. A lot of times we think that alcohol, because it's legal or it's socially acceptable, is less risky or dangerous to our bodies and it's really not," Brandy Vandermark-Murray, Senior Vice President of Operations at Horizon Health Services, said.
The leading causes of alcohol-related deaths in both men and women were alcohol liver disease, other poisonings, and motor vehicle crashes. Experts said this study should be taken seriously by anyone consuming alcohol.
"It's especially important because during COVID, the estimates are that alcohol use disorders when up about 24%, at least the rate of binge drinking went up 24%. This isn't something that's going away," Dr. Michael Cummings, the Assistant Medical Director and President of the Medical Staff at ECMC, said.
Experts said the COVID-19 Pandemic definitely made the figures in this study increase, while the number of people seeking treatment has gone down.
"In general, post-COVID, rates of people coming in for both out-patient substance abuse treatment as well as psychiatric mental health treatment has gone down significantly, about 24% at ECMC," Dr. Cummings said.
Experts said the key to resolving this issue is to be mindful of your alcohol consumption.
"These are things that people really need to be able to assess: Do I have an issue and is it something I should get treated for? And when do you know that? When you start to have specific problems with childcare, with relationships, with health, when you start missing things or skipping things because of alcohol use," Dr. Cummings said.
Experts also said the best way to handle alcohol abuse is to act immediately.
"We know if we intervene early with someone with substance abuse early, their outcomes improve," Vandermark-Murray said.
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