Alcohol Use Disorder > Fact Sheets > Yale Medicine

Alcohol use spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic as the stressors of daily life and the absence of regular school and work routines drove many people to… Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a degenerative brain disorder that causes mental confusion, vision problems, lack of coordination, and memory problems, among other symptoms.

The Consequences of Drug Abuse

From 2016–2017 to 2020–2021, the average annual number of U.S. deaths from excessive alcohol use increased by more than 40,000 (29%), from approximately 138,000 per year (2016–2017) to 178,000 per year (2020–2021). This increase translates to an average of approximately 488 deaths each day from excessive drinking during 2020–2021. These findings are consistent with another recent study that found a larger increase in fully alcohol-attributable death rates among females compared with males (8). The average annual number of deaths from excessive alcohol use among males increased by 25,244 (26.8%), from 94,362 deaths during 2016–2017 to 119,606 during 2020–2021 (Table 2). Age-standardized death rates among males increased from 54.8 per 100,000 population during 2016–2017 to 55.9 during 2018–2019, and to 66.9 during 2020–2021.

Global overview

• Overall, these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.
• As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.
• All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.

It’s probably no surprise that Costco makes a lot of money, and a significant proportion of its sales revenue comes from its whisky. The store sold approximately $6.5 to $7 billion worth of alcohol in 2023 (per Forbes), making it not just the biggest seller of alcoholic beverages in the United States, but in the entire statistics about alcoholism world. Of these alcohol sales, roughly 25% are made up of spirits — and when you consider that a significant proportion of the Kirkland booze line is made up of its various whiskies, it’s clear that a lot of bottles are being sold. Sources of alcoholic beverages sales and shipment data by State and beverage type, 2021.

Pennsylvania Alcohol Abuse Statistics

You can work with a health professional to try new treatments that may work better for you. The brain experiences the effects of alcohol right away, resulting in changes in mood, behavior, and judgment. The more alcohol you drink, the higher your blood alcohol levels and the greater your level of alcohol intoxication. As mentioned above, the DSM-5 says an AUD diagnosis requires at least 2 of the 11 symptoms of alcoholism listed above to have occurred within the previous 12 months. Alcohol use disorder is diagnosed on the basis of criteria defined in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The DSM is a guide that describes and classifies mental disorders, published and updated regularly by the American Psychiatric Association and used as a tool by medical professionals.

• Schedules categorize drugs by their potential for medical use or for abuse.
• The brain experiences the effects of alcohol right away, resulting in changes in mood, behavior, and judgment.
• Department of Health and Human Services since 2017, no similar declaration exists regarding alcohol deaths.
• In addition to ABVs, many factors may result in inaccuracies of per capita alcohol consumption estimates.

Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision, as well as the continued low prioritization of substance use disorders by health and development agencies. The highest proportion (13%) of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 were among young people aged 20–39 years. The breakdown of alcohol use disorders by gender for any country can be viewed here; the majority of people with alcohol use disorders – around three-quarters – are male. The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries, spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption.

Narcotic Abuse

From 2012 to 2019, the year over year rise in deaths rates averaged about 4% per year, and then jumped during early pandemic years, with the biggest rise from 2019 to 2020. Other data mirror this trend – emergency department (ED) visits for SUD are https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/total-alcohol-abstinence-vs-moderation/ on the rise and account for twice the number of ED visits compared to opioids. Alcohol related ED visits account for nearly half of all SUD related visits (45%), far higher than the next highest group, opioids, accounting for 13% of ED visits.

Alcohol Abuse Statistics in Adults