Alcoholism takes away your life and then kills you.

We look at a study from 8 years ago to show the extent of premature deaths caused by alcoholism and how membership of Alcoholics Anonymous helps in reducing the risk of premature death from alcoholism.

This study (1) of women and men, over 16 years,  observed that those initiating help-seeking careers have better chances of long-term survival. Of the individuals for whom cause of death was known, of the 121 participants known to have died, 76 did so between the 8- and 16-year follow-ups.and 68% died of alcohol-related causes.

Men were more likely to die than were women. When gender was controlled, individuals who were older and unmarried and had more alcohol dependence
symptoms at baseline were more likely to die over the 16-year period.

“It is well documented that the course of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) may end in premature death (Rivara et al., 2004; Room et al., 2005) and …that remission may reduce the risk of premature mortality (Fillmore et al., 2003; Miller, 1999), there is little information about whether an initial course of
professional treatment, or participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), can counteract the connection between AUDs and heightened mortality risk.

To address these issues, we examined mortality in a sample of individuals who had just initiated help-seeking for their AUDs at the start of the study and were followed for 16 years. Specifically, we ascertained the proportions of women and men who died and how these rates compared with matched general population rates…

 

Data on mortality are much more extensive for treated than for untreated individuals with AUDs. Finney and Moos (1991) reviewed long-term studies of mortality among treated individuals. Overall mortality rates ranged from 15% to 42% and were higher when the duration of follow-up was longer (see also Nielsen et al., 2005).

…Among individuals treated for AUDs, mortality rates were higher for men than for women (Feurerlein et al., 1994; Hurt et al., 1996). In addition, in community samples, rates of mortality due to alcohol use were higher in
men than in women (John and Hanke, 2002; Zureik and Ducimetiere, 1996). Premature death due to alcohol abuse or dependence is particularly more likely among men than among women in young and middle-aged groups (Moller-Leimkuhler, 2003)…

…A more severe and longer duration of alcohol abuse predicts premature death (Liskow et al., 2000; Ojesjo, 1981)…. In an 11-year follow-up, Smith et al. (1983) found that women who developed their AUD early and engaged in binge drinking were more likely to die. Consistently, more alcohol consumption and having recognized at a younger age that drinking was a problem were related to more years of life lost to an AUD (Marshall et al., 1994).

…Mackenzie et al. (1986) found that men who were hospitalized for AUDs more frequently were more likely to die over an 8-year follow-up. Inpatient treatment occurring throughout the course of alcoholism may be a marker for a more severe and chronic disorder because such treatment is sought in response to a relapse (Timko et al., 2000). In a study of inpatients with AUDs, de Lint and Levinson (1975) found that death rates were lower in the first 2 years postdischarge than thereafter. They speculated  that intensive outpatient aftercare may delay or prevent the high rate of mortality that often occurs shortly after discharge.

Among individuals treated for AUDs, those who subsequently attended AA were less likely to have died by a 2-year follow-up than those who did not attend (Masudomi et al., 2004)…

… For inpatient care, longer duration appears to be an indicator of greater disorder severity and thus should be associated with higher mortality…However, for outpatient care and help from AA, a longer duration predicts better substance use disorder outcomes and so may  indicate continuing motivation to stop drinking (Moos and Moos, 2003a, 2004a). From this perspective, a longer duration of outpatient treatment or AA affiliation should be associated with lower mortality.

…Furthermore, those who relapsed after treatment were 3 to 5 times more likely to die as those who remained abstinent (Bullock et al., 1992; Feurerlein et al., 1994)…

(This study found)…individuals who are just beginning their help-seeking…have a better chance of long-term survival than do women and men with more chronic disorders.
That is, individuals entering an initial episode of help-seeking may be successful at preventing or reducing the harm associated with excessive drinking that is also potentially causal in death. In contrast, repeated episodes of AUD treatment are often a reflection of the chronic and severe alcoholism known to cause premature death. As other studies have found, men were more likely to die than were women (Feurerlein et al., 1994; Hurt et al., 1996; John and Hanke, 2002; Zureik and Ducimetiere, 1996). Of the individuals who died, over two-thirds died of causes related to alcohol use.

…individuals who were olderand had more alcohol dependence symptoms (Finney and Moos, 1992; Liskow et al., 2000) and were unmarried were
more likely to die over the 16-year observation period.
Alcohol-related mortality tends to be lower among married persons (Agren and Romelsjo, 1992; Lewis et al., 1995)…

 

…continuous abstinence, had a positive effect on the survival of individuals with AUDs. Studies comparing stable abstinence with reduced frequency and
quantity of abusive drinking found that only stable abstinence prevented a higher mortality risk (Bullock et al., 1992; Gerdner and Berglund, 1997). Our results are consistent with those findings…

 

…Longer duration of AA attendance during the first follow-up year (specifically, attendance for more than 4 months) combined with better 1-year drinking outcomes was associated with a lower likelihood of death in the subsequent 15 years.

Alcoholics Anonymous participation may delay mortality not only by
reducing drinking and drinking-related, including medical,
problems, as outpatient treatment does, but also by increasing social resources and reducing…friendship stressors (Humphreys and Noke, 1997; Kaskutas et al., 2002; Masudomi et al., 2004).

 

References

Timko, C., DeBenedetti, A., Moos, B. S., & Moos, R. H. (2006). Predictors of 16‐year mortality among individuals initiating help‐seeking for an alcoholic use disorder. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 30(10), 1711-1720.