Alcohol-Related Deaths

Cremations are among the cremation services offered in Sun City, AZ. As the cremation rates rise in the United States, more and more of those people who are being cremated have died as a result of alcohol use or alcohol abuse.

According to a study published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the January 2020 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, in 1999, the number of people aged 16 and older who died from alcohol-related deaths was 35,914.

Less than 20 years later, in 2017, the number of people 16 and older who died from alcohol-related deaths was 72,558 (more than double the 1999 rate). In the 18 years from 1999 to 2017, almost one million people died from alcohol-related causes.

Most of the people who died from alcohol-related deaths were middle-aged men, but white women have been quickly gaining on them. Women tend to be much more susceptible to alcohol’s long-term effects than men do, because the two genders metabolize alcohol differently because of body structure and body weight.

Women, the study found, have a much greater risk of developing potentially fatal health problems, including alcohol-related cardiovascular diseases, alcohol-related liver disease, and acute liver failure than men who drink comparable levels of alcohol.

This is because even though men and women may weigh about the same, women reach much higher blood alcohol levels when they consume the same amount of alcohol. This exposes their body tissues to more alcohol and acetaldehyde, which is a toxic metabolite of alcohol, with each drink they take.

While government guidelines recommend safer levels of daily alcohol intake as one alcoholic drink for women and two alcoholic drinks for men, both men and women are increasingly drinking far more alcohol than these limits on a daily basis.

Therefore, the damaging effects of alcohol are accelerated in both men and women. The study showed that the most clear and present dangers exist in middle-aged and older men and women, when compared to people in their 20’s and early 30’s, who are consuming much less alcohol than in previous generations.

(Much of this lack of alcohol use among younger adults is attributed to greater cannabis and other drug use among these younger adults, which carries potentially fatal risks as well down the road.)

Once organ damage from alcohol use begins, its progression to death may be reversed if alcohol consumption is completely stopped. One such organ where reversal of the negative effects is possible in the early stages of damage is the liver.

The first stage of liver disease is fatty liver, which is also known as hepatic steatosis. Having too much fat in the liver can cause inflammation, which can damage the liver and creating scarring. Once a part of the liver is scarred, it can no longer regenerate itself.

Once scarring becomes more widespread, liver disease is diagnosed in stages, with the end stage being cirrhosis, which means the liver is completely damaged and is no longer functioning.

Cirrhosis of the liver is fatal. As toxins build up because the liver can’t eliminate them, they get into the bloodstream and affect every other organ, including the skin and the brain. A type of dementia develops and progresses, and blood pools below the surface of the skin, largely due to ammonia buildup throughout the body.

The very end of cirrhosis of the liver is death. Often, the overwhelming buildup of toxins leads to a coma, from which the person eventually dies.

If you want to know about cremation services in Sun City, AZ, our compassionate and experienced staff at Simply Cremations & Funeral Arrangements can help. You can come by our funeral home at 16952 W Bell Rd., Ste 303, Surprise, AZ 85374, or you can contact us today at (623) 975-9393.