An autopsy series consisting of 3421 cases over a five year period has been examined retrospectively in order to determine what proportion of the deaths was attributable in some direct way to either the acute or chronic effects of alcohol consumption.
It was found that in 3·27 per cent of all deaths alcohol contributed materially to death. This represents 4·43 per cent of all male deaths and 1·57 per cent of all female deaths. The average age at death was 10 years lower in the alcohol associated group than in the autopsy population as a whole. In males of young middle age a particularly high proportion of deaths was associated with alcohol abuse.
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