An ecologic study of cirrhosis mortality and alcohol consumption in the U.S.

Liver cirrhosis is responsible for 350 deaths in Wisconsin each year. A number of ecologic studies indicate that alcohol consumption and cirrhosis mortality are highly correlated. This ecologic cross-sectional study uses data for the 50 US states. Various measures of alcohol consumption and Hepatitis B and C serve as the exposure variables. Liver cirrhosis mortality is the outcome measure. Wisconsin has the largest percentage of drinkers and of binge drinkers and is in the top five states for apparent per capita alcohol consumption and for the percentage of chronic heavy drinkers. Yet Wisconsin's mortality rate during 1990 to 1994 ranks 43 among US states. The most plausible explanation for this apparent anomaly is that alcohol consumption in Wisconsin is distributed over a larger share of the population. Overall, consumption per drinker in Wisconsin is lower than in other high consumption states.