Actuarial concepts, combined with lived experience in recovery, applied to the long-term impacts of addiction.
Excessive alcohol use caused an estimated 178,000 deaths per year on 2020 to 2021 data.
CDC provisional drug overdose death counts, retrieved October 2026: 70,646 deaths reported for 2025. CDC Alcohol-Related Disease Impact estimates, 2020 to 2021. Tobacco is not included in either metric.
In 2017, 3.4 million inpatient stays carried the diagnosis, and $13 billion of hospital cost was attributable to it. Alcohol accounted for the largest share, $7.6 billion; opioids for $2.2 billion.
CDC researchers, JAMA Network Open, 2021, on 2017 hospital records. Tobacco is not included.
In federal prisons the figure was 32%. Of those with symptoms, only a third in state prisons, and 46% in federal, had taken part in any alcohol or drug treatment program since admission.
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of Prison Inmates 2016, published 2021: voluntary, confidential interviews with 24,848 people; self-reported symptoms measured against DSM-IV dependence or abuse criteria. Tobacco is not counted.
$15,640 more per year in medical costs for each of 2.3 million enrollees with a substance use disorder diagnosis, compared with similar enrollees without one. In 2025, 9.2% of adults working full time met the criteria for a drug use disorder, not including alcohol.
CDC researchers, JAMA Network Open, 2023, on 2018 employer-plan claims. SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2025. Tobacco is in neither figure.
SUDenomics helps organizations that fund and deliver addiction care prioritize programs which drive sustainable long-term results, in health outcomes and economic terms.
SUDenomics knows addiction is a disease. We always work from the perspective of the patient, because SUDenomics is operated by a former patient, now in long-term recovery.