Prevalence and mortality of heavy drinkers in a general medical hospital unit

This study was performed in order to analyse the prevalence, clinical chara cteristics and mortality of heavy drinkers among hospitalized patients duri ng a 2-year period. Chronic excessive alcohol consumption (daily intake >80 g of ethanol for males and >40 g for females) was found in 278 of 2913 hos pital admissions and was strongly associated with the male sex (90.69%). He avy drinkers were significantly younger than other admissions (15 and 10 ye ars for men and women, respectively), but showed similar mortality rates tc other admissions, despite a much earlier age at death (19.5 years for men and 22 years for women). There was a trend towards higher mortality rates a mong severe alcoholic women than severe alcoholic men and non-alcoholic wom en. Liver cirrhosis was the entity most frequently observed in the heavy dr inkers, and was significantly more prevalent in alcoholic women.