The NBC News (10/17, Stokes) “Vitals” blog reports, “Alcoholism may be twice as fatal for women as for men, according to a” study published online Oct. 16 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. After examining data on 4,070 individuals in Germany, all of whom were asked about their alcohol use, then following the group for 14 years, researchers found that “nearly a fifth of the alcoholics had died.”
HealthDay (10/17, Reinberg) quotes the study’s lead author, who explained in a statement, “First, we found that annualized death rates were 4.6-fold higher for females and 1.9-fold higher for males compared to the age- and gender-specific general population.” Next, “we found that the mean age at death was 60 for females and 58 for males, both of which are about 20 years lower than the mean age at death among the general population.” Notably, “drinking appears to contribute more to early death than other risk factors, such as smoking, he noted.” The Daily Mail (UK) (10/17, Preece) also covers the story.
Small Study: Two Weeks Of Abstinence May Reverse Brain Damage From Alcohol Abuse. HealthDay (10/17, Dallas) reports, “Two weeks of abstinence from drinking can reverse damage to the brain caused by chronic alcohol abuse,” according to a study published online Oct. 16 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after examining “49 alcoholics from an inpatient alcohol-withdrawal treatment program,” then comparing them to 55 controls who did not abuse alcohol. Brain scans were conducted on all participants within 24 hours of detoxification and repeated “after two weeks of supervised abstinence.”
Related Links:
— “Alcoholism Shortens Life More Than Smoking: Study, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, October 16, 2012.