Alcoholism Fact

There are a few misconceptions about alcoholism fact. Many people have been suffering from years of alcoholism because they do not know the statistics. A look at alcoholism fact is good for anyone who wishes to know more about the disease.

People have widely varying ideas of how prevalent alcoholism is. Some think “everyone is an alcoholic; why should I be any different?” Others think the problem is rare and that the people who fall victim are just the bottom of the barrel. They do not know the alcoholism fact about this.

Actually, the percentage of people 12 and over who were alcohol-dependent in 2004 was 7.6%. That is around 18.2 million people. This is neither rare nor extremely common. The true alcoholism fact is that these people are a minority, but they are not simply the dregs of society.

There is often the image of the homeless old alcoholic man curled up with his bottle in the gutter. Or, people think of an alcohol-dependent executive drinking copiously in an office. People think this is an alcoholism fact. Actually, after the age of 25 years old, the incidence of alcoholism goes down.

For people ages 12-17, the percentage was 5.9%. The harsh alcoholism fact is that the rate of alcoholics between 18 and 25 years of age was 17.4%. From there, the percentages went down, with 11.1% at 26-34 years old, 7.5% at 35-49 years old, and only 3% over 50.

The marital status of alcoholics is not surprising, though. Alcoholism statistics were studied for alcoholics aged 18 and older. The alcoholism fact is that those who were single and never married had the highest rate, with 16%.

People who were divorced or separated were usually under stress. They were also often trying to look for mates in social settings that involved alcohol. The rate for them was 10%. Married people had a lower rate, with only 4.6% being alcoholics. The good alcoholism fact was that only 1.3% of widowed people were alcoholics.

Another alcoholism fact is that there seems to be a relationship between emergency room visits and alcoholism. For people 12 and older, 34.2% were seen in emergency rooms, while for those who were not alcohol-dependent, the rate was only 27.9%. This would indicate that those who suffer from alcoholism do have serious physical problems.

In the year of 2004, 61% of adults drank alcohol. In that same year, there were 32% of the drinkers who had at least 5 drinks on one day during the year. An alcoholism fact is that there were 20,687 alcohol-induced deaths in 2003. Besides those, there were 12,360 alcohol liver disease deaths the same year.

The incidence of other diseases and conditions that have become associated with alcoholism is staggering. Conditions like high blood pressure, pancreatitis, insomnia, and even osteoporosis have been linked to alcohol dependence. This is an alcoholism fact that cannot be ignored.

Alcoholism fact has been established by study of statistics and by research. There is little one can do about it except to seek treatment and encourage other alcoholics to do the same. Alcoholism fact supports the notion that this is a large problem. Research suggests that it is not insurmountable.