Alcohol-related deaths in Oregon have soared over the past 15 years, giving the state the third highest rate in the country, a new report shows.
Alcohol deaths in Oregon more than doubled between 1999 and 2015, from 9.0 to 22.2 per 100,000 deaths overall, according to “Pain in the Nation,” a study by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust, a foundation.
That puts the state on track to have 28 alcohol-related deaths per 100,000 by 2025, the report estimates. Oregon is behind New Mexico at No. 1 and Wyoming, No. 2.
The report does not analyze the reasons beyond the statistics. Instead, it calls for a national prevention plan.
The report looks at alcohol, drug and suicide deaths nationally and by state. When the death rate for all those categories is combined, Oregon ranks 10th nationwide, with 54 deaths per 100,000 in 2015 and an average cost of $20,000 per person.
Oregon’s high ranking doesn’t surprise state health officials.
“It does confirm what we know, and it is very, very concerning,” said Dr. Katrina Hedberg, Oregon’s state epidemiologist and health officer. “Oregon has been one of the top states for suicide, one of the top states for opioid misuse. This talks about alcohol. We know that’s been trending upward. All of those are concerning.”
The report says that deaths in Oregon from drugs, alcohol and suicide could rise to 73 per 100,000 by 2025 if the current trend continues.
In drug deaths, a focus of the state’s anti-opioid push, Oregon had the 16th lowest rate in the country. But the suicide rate was the 11th highest.
Oregon did better on drug deaths than its neighbor to the north, with 13 per 100,000 in 2015 compared with 15 in Washington state. But its suicide death rate was higher – 19 deaths per 100,000 in 2015 compared with 16 in Washington state. Oregon’s death-from-alcohol rate the same year, 22 per 100,000, compares with 15 in Washington state.
Seniors 65 and older account for the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in Oregon. Men die from alcohol at a rate twice that of women. In 2015, for example, nearly 150 men in 100,000 in the 65-plus age group died from alcohol-related causes, compared with nearly 80 women.
A 2014 report from the Oregon Public Health Division pointed out the problem with binge drinking and older people.
“More young adults binge drink at least once each month,” the report said, “but the older adults who binge drink, do so more often.”
