Alcoholism in the Big Cities of the United States

Abstract

The numbers and rates of alcoholics with complications in all cities of the United States with populations over 100,000 in the year 1950 were presented. The cities with lowest rates in 1940 generally showed increases far greater than those with the highest rates in that year. The rates in the 12 largest cities were on the average almost twice the rates of the 12 smallest big cities. The rates in the large cities in each state were compared with rates in the rest of the same state. Some tendency was found for the big city rates to be higher than those in the less urban portions of the same states, but numerous exceptions were pointed out. The statistical increases in the rates of alcoholism could not be interpreted as indicative of a trend but were attributed mainly to improved reporting of basic medical information.