SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – The New Mexico Department of Health announced Friday that New Mexico continues to have the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in the U.S., according to a recently published report by the CDC.
“Not only are we fighting to reverse life-threatening alcohol use, we are also fighting a stress-inducing pandemic that is contributing to increased alcohol consumption. We must use every tool available to reduce alcohol-related death and years of potential life lost due to excessive alcohol use,” said New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel in a news release Friday.
NMDOH says New Mexico’s alcohol-related death rate of 52.3 per 100,000 population was almost twice the U.S. rate for the years 2011 through 2015. The average U.S. alcohol-related death rate per 100,000 population was 27.4 for the same period.
NMDOH says the CDC report used data from 2011 through 2015, and the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact application. ARDI is a measure of total deaths associated with alcohol use, including those for which other causes of death were involved. Rates were calculated based on the updated ARDI, which uses alcohol-attributable fractions for 58 conditions.
From 2011 to 2015 New Mexico also had the highest estimated alcohol-related years of potential life lost. New Mexico’s YPLL was 1,651.7 per 100,000 population, which was almost twice the US rate of 847.7 per 100,000 population.
“Our efforts to reduce alcohol misuse include supporting policy development at both the county and state levels. We are grateful for every community partnership that supports our agency’s mission to improve health outcomes and assure safety net services for all people in New Mexico,” said Kunkel in the same news release.
