Alcohol poisoning not just a campus issue

     Alcohol poisoning results from excessive consumption, behavior generally associated with colleges and universities, but actually the victims are generally middle-aged men, researchers said during a Jan. 6 press briefing. Indeed, 3 in 4  alcohol poisoning deaths involved victims ages 35 to 64.
     Dr. Ileana Arias, the CDC's principal deputy director, defined “binge” drinking as five or more alcoholic drinks for men and four or more for women within a two- to three-hour period. And while that sounds excessive, binge drinking is common. More than 38 million U.S. adults report binge drinking about four times per month. They down an average of eight drinks per binge.  
     To get a handle on the issue, researchers examined death certificate data from 2010 to 2012 and found that 2,200 Americans died each year of alcohol poisoning. If anything, they think that number underestimates the problem.  
     Here are four takeaways from the CDC’s briefing:

• It’s all about alcohol dependence: Alcohol dependence was a factor in a third of the deaths, while other drugs contributed to 3 percent of the deaths.
• The problem is far more pronounced in some states: Alaska, for example, has 46.5 deaths per million residents, while Alabama has 5.3 deaths per million residents.
• Victims are not doing the math: Arias pointed out that a “standard drink of alcohol contains the same amount of alcohol no matter what type of beverage is consumed. A 12-ounce can of 5 percent beer has the same amount of alcohol as a 5-ounce glass of 12 percent wine or an ounce-and-a-half of 80-proof distilled spirits.”
• Know the signs: Life-threatening signs of alcohol poisoning include the inability to wake up, vomiting, seizures, slow or irregular breathing or heart rate, low body temperature, bluish skin color or paleness. 

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