Nearly 2,000 deaths blamed on alcohol
Madison, WI (AP) - 5/24/90

Alcohol use and abuse cost the state's economy more than $1.4 billion in 1988, causing almost 2,000 deaths in the state that year, the Division of Health says.

The state study said alcohol was responsible for more than 30% of the deaths of WI men ages 15-24 and for about ¼ of the deaths of WI women in that age group.

The figures include deaths caused by automobile accidents and the costs of treating people for alcoholism.

Drs. Dan Peterson and Patrick Remington, epidemiologists for the Division of Health, reported the 1,949 alcohol-related deaths in 1988 accounted for 4.5% of all deaths in WI.

The division said men accounted for more than twice as many alcohol associated deaths as women. It said 1,263 men died, compared to 686 women.

The doctors estimated that, in 1988, alcohol was responsible for 346 motor vehicle deaths, 105 deaths from accidental falls, 24 accidental drownings and 33 deaths by fire.

They also blamed alcohol for 70 deaths due to cancer of the mouth, 140 deaths due to cancer of the esophagus and 59 deaths due to cancer of the stomach.

Although alcohol is most commonly associated with liver damage, the researchers estimated that fewer than 300 alcohol-related deaths in WI were due to liver damage in 1988.

The effects of alcohol cost $305 for each WI resident in 1988, the report said.

The report also estimated that, in 1988, WI residents spent more than $152 million for alcohol treatment programs and $157 million paying for crimes, automobile accidents and fires caused by alcohol-impaired persons.

The largest expenditure listed under alcohol costs, however, is for "mortality." The researchers reached that figure, $485 million, by projecting how much money people who died early because of alcohol might have made had they lived.

The report said alcohol kills people, on average, 24 years earlier than they might otherwise have died.

"Those who died from alcohol-related injuries died an average of 35 years earlier than expected, whereas those who died from other alcohol-related diseases (for example, cancer, heart disease, digestive diseases etc.) died an average of 15 years earlier than expected," the report said.