On average, six American’s die of alcohol poisoning everyday. That means over 2000 deaths a year. It is one of the most preventable causes of death in the country.

In the past, studies of alcohol abuse have focused on young people and college students. However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a survey of the entire American population, tallying the number of deaths by alcohol poisoning. Their findings were released in a report on Tuesday.

The results are shocking. 2,221 people died annually between 2010 and 2012. However, it was not the college partiers who made up the majority of that number. It was middle-aged adults. In particular, white men between the ages of 35 and 64. This group made up more than three quarters of the number of fatalities. Only 30 percent of those who died were considered to be alcoholics.

The report also included the number of deaths per state. The lowest number of deaths was in Alabama followed by Texas, Illinois and Virginia. The highest mortality rate was in Alaska followed by New Mexico, Rhode Island and Arizona.

Alcohol poisoning is the result of ‘binge drinking’, which is defined as consuming a large quantity of alcohol over a short period of time for the sole purpose of becoming intoxicated quickly. For men, that means having five or more drink in less than three hours. For women, the number of drinks is four or more in the same time frame.

Consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time overwhelms the liver. It can only process so much at a time. The alcohol that your liver is unable to filter goes back into your bloodstream. This causes drunkenness.

If the concentration of alcohol in your blood is too high, your body becomes impaired. It starts with slurred speech and loss of coordination. Yet it can proceed to shortness of breath or erratic heart rhythms. While the body does have natural ways to counteract alcohol’s toxins- such as vomiting and falling asleep (‘passing out’ as it’s more commonly called)- if the concentration is too high, even these measures will not be adequate. Your brain will begin to shut down causing you to fall into a coma. Or die.

Alcohol poisoning has long been considered a common affliction but it is only within the last decade that the CDC has considered it a major health concern.