Alcoholism Shortens Lifespan By Nearly a Decade, Long-Term Study Finds Brent McCluskey - The Fix
go to original April 30, 2015

Alcohol is one of the most dangerous substances on the planet. Someone dies from alcohol use every ten seconds, and one night of binge drinking can take a huge toll on your immune system. (Business Insider)

Most are fully aware that heavy drinking is hard on the body, but a new study revealed alcoholism actually reduces one’s lifespan by an average of 7.6 years.

The long-term observational study, published in the journal European Psychiatry, compared 23,371 alcohol dependent hospital patients to 233,710 non-alcohol dependent hospital patients over the course of 12.5 years. The study found that those hospital patients who were alcohol dependent were at far greater risk of serious physical illness and death.

“During the observation period, approximately one out of five hospital patients with alcoholism died in one of the hospitals, while only one out of 12 patients in the control group died,” said Prof. Dr. Reinhard Heun from the Royal Derby Hospital in England.

The study revealed that alcoholism not only negatively impacts physical health, but also that it takes its toll on the mind as well. The findings show those patients who were addicted to alcohol needed psychotherapeutic care earlier and more intensively than those patients who were not addicted to alcohol.

Read the rest at The Fix

Photo: Safe and Healthy People

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!