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Death-
Related
Statistics

TABLE 39:

FIGURE 23:

Highlights:
Tab 39
Fig23

• Deaths that are "directly" related to alcohol are identified by specific underlying causes of death which involve alcohol. Deaths "indirectly" related to alcohol do not have an alcohol-related underlying cause of death, but alcohol was noted somewhere on the Medical Certification of Death.

• There were 1,689 deaths that were directly or indirectly related to alcohol in 2000; only 317 deaths (18.8%) were directly related to alcohol, and 1,372 (81.2%) were due to other causes.

• In 2000, alcoholic liver disease accounted for more than half (56.5%) of the deaths directly related to alcohol, while another third (33.8%) were due to alcoholic psychoses and dependence.

• Circulatory system diseases were the largest category of deaths indirectly related to alcohol, accounting for over one quarter (29.9%) of these deaths in 2000. Other causes of death in the indirect group that were responsible for more than 150 deaths were neoplasms (17.3%) and unintentional injury/accident (13.6%).

• The distribution of alcohol-related deaths by cause was similar for males and females.