Fewer Wisconsin youth report drinking alcohol, adult binge drinking is higher than the national average, and deaths attributed to alcohol in the state are increasing. Those findings from a recent Wisconsin Department of Health Services study.
DHS spokesperson Mary Raina Haralampopulos says the study found young people are drinking less, but that has a caveat...
"Our youth are still ranking in the top-10 states for the percent of high schoolers who are drinking alcohol..."
Wisconsin ranks fourth in the nation for the percentage of high schoolers who have ever drank alcohol. Young women are drinking more than boys by 12th grade.
Almost one in four Wisconsin residents reported binge drinking in the past month, which is higher than the national rate, she says, "Wisconsinites in every age group were engaging more in binge drinking than the U.S. median for age groups. Specifically the 25-44 was the highest age group where Wisconsin was recording 35 percent, the national rate was 22 percent..."
Haralampopulos says says those numbers cut across al races and ethnicities. She said the numbers of deaths are trending the wrong way...
"It's doubled nationally, our deaths. In Wisconsin again, we're seeing our numbers increase..."
Two out of three Wisconsin adults reported using alcohol in the past month, which is higher than the national rate.
We have a link to the study here.
