Alcohol - Health
by: Jerry Price - Mar 13, 2006 - comment
“As a matter of economic analysis, alcohol and tobacco carry high societal price tags. While recent litigation and settlements have succeeded in shifting some of the costs associated with tobacco use to cigarette companies, the alcohol industry has essentially managed to escape payment of analogous expenses. Given the increasing need to reduce public spending, it is time to extend the same liability to the alcohol industry and for shareholders to replace taxpayers as the group principally responsible for payment of expenses underlying the alcohol industry’s profits.
“The potential savings from privatizing alcohol’s costs are enormous, and in large measure stem from the fact that alcoholism is an astonishingly prevalent and costly disease. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcoholism affects some 8 percent to 14 percent of the population. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are the 12th leading cause of death in the United States, and the third leading cause of preventable mortality.
“In economic terms, these statistics translate into staggering sums. From 1985 to 1992, the costs of alcoholism and alcohol-related problems rose by more than 40 percent to $148 billion, according to the National Institutes of Health. Moreover, untreated alcoholics incur health-care costs at least 100 percent higher than those of non-alcoholics. Ironically, the profits of the alcohol industry remain largely undisturbed by these burgeoning expenses.”
R. Konrad Moore, Paying the Price for Alcohol’s Toll, January 27, 2004 [Accessed October 27, 2005]
- Twenty-five to forty percent of all patients in U.S. general hospital beds (not in maternity or intensive care) are being treated for complications of alcohol-related problems.
- Annual health care expenditures for alcohol-related problems amount to $22.5 billion. The total cost of alcohol problems is $175.9 billion a year (compared to $114.2 billion for other drug problems and $137 billion for smoking).
- In comparison to moderate and non-drinkers, individuals with a history of heavy drinking have higher health care costs.
- Untreated alcohol problems waste an estimated $184.6 billion dollars per year in health care, business, and criminal justice costs, and cause more than 100,000 deaths.
- Health care costs related to alcohol abuse are not limited to the user. Children of alcoholics who are admitted to the hospital average 62 percent more hospital days and 29 percent longer stays.
- Alcohol use by underage drinkers results in $3.7 billion a year in medical care costs due to traffic crashes, violent crime, suicide attempts, and other related consequences. The total annual cost of alcohol use by underage youth is $52.8 billion.
- Alcohol-related car crashes are the number one killer of teens. Alcohol use is also associated with homicides, suicides, and drownings—the next three leading causes of death among youth.
- Alcohol is the drug most frequently used by 12- to 17-year-olds-and the one that causes the most negative health consequences. More than 4 million adolescents under the legal drinking age consume alcohol in any given month.
Health Care Costs of Alcohol (Marin Institute) [Accessed November 1, 2005]
- Adverse health effects that are associated with alcohol-exposed pregnancies include miscarriage, premature delivery, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, and prenatal alcohol-related conditions (e.g., fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorders).
- In 1999, 12.8 percent of women aged 18 to 44 years reported any alcohol use (at least one drink) during pregnancy, and 2.7 percent reported binge drinking (5 or more drinks on any one occasion) (MMWR, 2002).
- Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder and alcohol-related birth defects are believed to occur approximately three times as often as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) (CDC, NCBDD/FAS, 2004).
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is one of the leading causes of mental retardation, and is directly attributable to drinking during pregnancy. FAS is characterized by growth retardation, facial abnormalities, and central nervous system dysfunction (i.e., learning disabilities and lower IQ), as well as behavioral problems.
- The incidence of FAS in the United States ranges from 0.2 to 1.5 per 1,000 live births http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas (CDC, NCBDD/FAS, 2004).
- Any maternal alcohol use in the periconceptional period (i.e., during the three months before pregnancy or during the first trimester) is associated with a six-fold increased risk of SIDS (Iyasu, 2002).
- Binge drinking (five or more drinks at a time) during a mother’s first trimester of pregnancy is associated with an eight-fold increase in the odds that the infant will die of SIDS (Iyasu, 2002).
General Alcohol Information: Alcohol and Pregnancy (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) [Accessed October 31, 2005]
“Alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of illness and death in the United States. Fatty liver, the most common form of ALD, is reversible with abstinence. More serious ALD includes alcoholic hepatitis (characterized by persistent inflammation of the liver), and cirrhosis (characterized by progressive scarring of liver tissue). Either condition can be fatal, and treatment options are limited. During the past 5 years, research has significantly increased our understanding of the mechanisms by which alcohol consumption damages the liver.
“To many people, cirrhosis of the liver is synonymous with chronic alcoholism. Alcoholism is only one of the causes of this condition. Alcoholic cirrhosis usually develops after more than a decade of heavy drinking. The amount of alcohol that can injure the liver varies greatly from person to person. In women, as few as two to three drinks per day have been linked with cirrhosis. In men, as few as three to four drinks per day can have the same effect. Alcohol seems to injure the liver by blocking the normal metabolism of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. French researchers have found that wine drinkers are just as much at risk for developing cirrhosis of the liver as those who drink liquor and beer in spite of previous studies to the contrary.”
Alcohol Effects (US No Drugs) [Accessed October 31, 2005]
Further Learning
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