Alcohol-associated deaths in the District of Columbia--a postmortem study.

Ethyl alcohol and its lethal effects were present either in the victim or in the environment, including persons responsible for a given death, in 53% of the cases autopsied during a six-month period at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the District of Columbia. The results of this small, admittedly biased, sample indicate that the acute and chronic effects of alcohol are a major public health problem in this jurisdiction. Comparative figures from other medical examiner's systems suggest the national prevalence of the problem and confirm the gross inadequacy of data from death certificates for such research. Only when the combination of accurate pathological, toxicological, and historical information concerning all types of deaths is available can reliable statistics regarding the numbers and types of deaths related to alcohol be obtained.