[| I, CWAS |]

Cirrhosis, Drinking Rates Don’t Add Up
MILWAUKEE—If drinking were a game of craps, Wisconsinites would be beating the house.

Much to the chagrin of local researchers, a study has found that while Wisconsin leads the nation in percentage of drinkers and is among the leaders in total consumption, the state has one of the lowest death rates for cirrhosis of the liver.

“Surprised?” said Patrick Remington, one of two authors of the report in Wisconsin Medical Journal. “Yes, we were surprised.”
Wisconsin ranked the highest among the 50 states in the overall percentage of drinkers — 69%. Nationwide, half the states had an overall drinking percentage of 51% or higher.

The state’s per capita consumption — the amount of alcohol consumed, then divided among every man, woman and child — ranked it fourth in the country at 3.4 gallons a person. That compares with the national per capita consumption of about 2.5 gallons a person, or 26% less than Wisconsin. The state also has the highest rates of binge and chronic drinking.

Yet liver cirrhosis causes roughly 350 deaths a year in Wisconsin, ranking the state 43rd in the nation for cirrhosis mortality rates from 1990 to 1994

http://biomed10.lib.umn.edu/hmed/1999/0 ... 17_cl.html