Mortality in an Alcoholic Cohort

Abstract

This investigation explored various aspects of the phenomenon of mortality in an alcoholic cohort. A retrospective, longitudinal cohort study of 400 new admissions to an alcohol rehabilitation center demonstrated: (1) a high case fatality rate (.0459) in the cohort with 95 deaths tabulated for 2,069 person-years of observation; (2) that the case fatality rate varied over time, peaking in years soon after first identification of the cohort (i.e., years 1 and 2) and in middle range follow-up years (i.e., years 5 and 6); (3) that cardiovascular diseases and violent causes accounted for the greatest numbers of deaths in the cohort; (4) that deaths from violent causes, acute intoxication, and cirrhosis were excessively over-represented; (5) that cause-specific mortality and age at death were significantly statistically associated, with deaths from violent causes and acute intoxication occurring at younger ages and deaths from cerebral lesions carcinomas, cirrhosis, and cardiovascular diseases occurring at older ages; (6) that cause-specific mortality and case fatality rate showed concomitant variation, with violent deaths peaking in early follow-up years and disappearing in late follow-up years; and cardiovascular deaths peaking in middle follow-up years.