Alcohol Poisoning Kills Six Americans Every Day, CDC Reports

Alcohol poisoning is the cause of death for an average of six Americans every day, according to a startling new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though binge-drinking accounts for many of those deaths, the demographic with the highest risk of death from alcohol poisoning was not college students, as you might expect, but males between the ages of 35 and 64.

According to records from the CDC, which measured the number of deaths from alcohol poisoning in the United States between 2010 and 2012, adults of that age range accounted for 76 percent, or three out of every four, deaths. Furthermore, of alcohol poisoning-related deaths, 76 percent of fatalities were men. Overall, nearly 70 percent of those who died from excess alcohol consumption were non-Hispanic whites. A detailed infographic is available on the CDC website. 

Geographic patterns also emerged from the CDC study, which revealed that in many regions, binge-drinking is "strongly influenced by state and local laws governing the price and availability of alcohol, as well as other cultural and religious factors." Of the 10 states with the highest rates of alcohol poisoning deaths, eight were in the West, including Alaska, New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming.