There's Been a Troubling Rise in Alcohol Related Deaths. But Why?

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Happy Friday, readers.

A new study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research raises significant questions about deaths related to excess drinking.

Here’s the long and short of it: “The number of alcohol‐related deaths per year among people aged 16 [and over] doubled from 35,914 to 72,558 [between 1999 and 2017], and the rate increased 50.9% from 16.9 to 25.5 per 100,000,” according to the researchers from the NIH’s institute that focuses on alcohol abuse.

There’s more—just two years ago, ” 2.6% of roughly 2.8 million deaths in the United States involved alcohol,” according to the study.

A lot of this is linked to liver disease and overdoses, the researchers say. And certain demographics are affected much more deeply than others, including men between the ages of 45 and 74 and Alaskan natives.

This is one of those fundamental problems of a lack of data and how certain health scourges may affect one group disproportionately over another. As the study authors themselves say, it’s something to keep a serious eye on.

Have a great weekend, and read on for the day’s news.

Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy

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