LA: 24/7 says LA is not the drunkest nor the most sober state in U.S.
Posted by Curtis Heyen, Digital Content Producer
March 8, 2018
(KSLA) – For once, Louisiana is neither at the top or the bottom of a list of the best or worst attributes.
Indeed, the website 24/7 Wall St. says when it comes to determining which state is the drunkest, the Bayou State is neither the most inebriated or the most sober.
Click here to see how your state ranks as far as excessive alcohol consumption.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that includes binge drinking and heavy drinking.
MAP: PREVALENCE OF BINGE DRINKING AMONG U.S. ADULTS IN 2015
Binge drinking is defined as at least four drinks in a single occasion for women and five or more for men.
Heavy drinking means at least eight drinks a week for women and 15 for men.
To identify the drunkest states in America, 24/7 Wall St. says it reviewed the percentage of men and women over age 18 who report binge or heavy drinking.
The website says it also factored in alcohol-induced mortality rates and data on health outcomes, including the number of deaths before age 75 per 100,000 people and the percentage of adults who report being in fair or poor health, plus social and economic factors, including median household income and the poverty rate.
The study found that the prevalence of excessive drinking varies substantially throughout the country.
The states with the lowest rates are predominantly in the South, while the states with the highest rates are concentrated in the Midwest.
Traffic fatalities involving alcohol are one of the most common causes of preventable death in the United States.
The CDC reports that nearly 30 people a day die in wrecks involving an alcohol-impaired driver.
Not surprisingly, 24/7 Wall St. reports, the states it found with higher rates of excessive drinking also were found to be more likely to have deadly roadway accidents involving alcohol.
Eight of the 10 states with the largest shares of adults who binge drink or drink heavily have above-average rates of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, the website says.
And while excessive drinking is unhealthy, 24/7 Wall St. says, the states it found with the highest excessive drinking rates tend to report better health outcomes than states with lower rates.
George Koob, director of the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, reportedly told 24/7 Wall St. that there is a clear correlation between income and a state’s rate of excessive drinking.
Annual median household income tends to be much higher in the states with the highest rates of excessive drinking rates.
Of the 25 states with the highest rates of excessive drinking rates, 14 have median annual household incomes about the national figure of $57,617.
Of the 10 states where people drink the least, nine have median household incomes below the national median.
One possible reason for this relationship is the fact that alcohol is expensive.
Koob is quoted as telling 24/7 Wall St. that while a larger share of affluent individuals drink excessively, “… they do so less heavily.”
And while low-income individuals drink to excess less frequently, the amount of alcohol they consume when they do drink tends to be greater.
MAP: INTENSITY OF BINGE DRINKING AMONG U.S. ADULTS IN 2015
Binge Drinking Video: https://youtu.be/I9hdkDTaQWU