Alcohol-Associated Morbidity

Abstract

Earlier reports indicate some excess morbidity associated with alcoholism or heavy use of alcohol, including peripheral neuropathy and brain damage, diseases of the liver, gastritis and pancreatitis, heart and vascular diseases, cancers of the upper respiratory and digestive tracts, and injuries from motor vehicle and other accidents [3, 10, 11, 12]. Most of these conclusions are based on studies of mortality, using information on causes of death of alcoholics or high level drinkers, e.g., from studies of causes of death for treated alcoholics [3, 10, 11, 12], of autopsy or coroner’s reports [1, 6, 13], or of insurance records [9]. Most mortality studies used sample sizes of about 1000 or so persons, although the study conducted by the Addiction Research Foundation on its treated alcoholics eventually included almost 10000 persons [11], while one of the autopsy studies included a total sample of 35579 autopsies [1].

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Addiction Research Foundation