The New Warning

One early study by reported in Time magazine, followed 1,824
people over a period of 20 years,  and concluded that during
those two  decades, death rates were highest for abstainers,
second highest for heavy drinkers and lowest for so-called
moderate drinkers.
"People who don't drink are from less wealthy castes because
booze is expensive and they suffer more stress because of that."

Women have the highest risk of dying prematurelym said the New research, which suggests that people who are alcohol-dependent, particularly women, may be cutting their lives even shorter than smokers.

Drinking appears to contribute more to early death than other risk factors, such as smoking.
In the study, German researchers found death rates were 4.6-fold higher among alcohol-dependent women and 1.9-fold higher among alcohol-dependent men, compared with the general population.
According to sources  Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, online (James Garbutt, M.D., professor, psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Bruce Goldman, director, Substance Abuse Services, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, N.Y.; Oct. 16, 2012) women have the highest risk of dying prematurely.

This paper confirms the well-known association between alcoholism and premature death, 

said Dr. James Garbutt, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, who was not involved in the study.

It also supports the evidence that women are more likely to have more severe health problems from alcohol than men -- 'sicker quicker,

 researchers report.

For the study, lead by Ulrich John, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at University Medicine Greifswald, the researchers collected data on more than 4,000 men and women who were part of a German registry and followed for 14 years.
This report was published online Oct. 16 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
Among these people, 153 were identified as alcohol-dependent.

First, we found that annualized death rates were 4.6-fold higher for females and 1.9-fold higher for males compared to the age- and gender-specific general population,

John writes in a statement.

Second, we found that the mean age at death was 60 for females and 58 for males, both of which are about 20 years lower than the mean age at death among the general population.

None of those deceased had reached the age of life expectancy.

Third, having participated in inpatient alcohol-dependent treatment was not related with longer survival compared to not having taken part in treatment, meaning that it did not seem to have a sufficient protective effect against premature death.

According to souces smoking-related deaths are often due to cancers, which usually occur later in life than deaths from alcohol abuse, he noted. In addition, drinking can contribute to other risk factors such as smoking and obesity.
The finding that treatment was not protective is of interest, though the reasons are not clear, sure.

Bruce Goldman, director of substance abuse services at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y., said that

alcohol dependence is a chronic and often fatal disease. There is evidence that the impact of alcohol can be more devastating in women than men.

People who are alcohol-dependent need to seek help, Goldman said:

Get help, or you may be literally drinking away years of your life.

The study showed an association between alcohol dependence and early death, but did not prove a cause-and-effect link.