Table 3.

BAC levels among violent deaths with a specific BAC level reported by characteristics

	Total^a	BAC > 0.0 g/dL^b		BAC ≥ 0.08 g/dL^b
Characteristics	N	n	%	n	%
Overall	43,912	18,037	41.1	12,176	27.7
Sex
Female	10,929	3,842	35.2	2,431	22.2
Male	32,983	14,195	43.0	9,745	29.5
Age Group (Years)
10–20	4,596	1,131	24.6	384	8.4
21–44	19,727	9,442	47.9	6,797	34.5
45–64	14,331	6,322	44.1	4,379	30.6
≥65	4,674	1,114	23.8	611	13.1
Race or Ethnicity
American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic	968	520	53.7	440	45.5
Asian/Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	903	252	27.9	141	15.6
Black, non-Hispanic	7,569	3,339	44.1	1,969	26.0
Hispanic	3,888	1,601	41.2	1,111	28.6
White, non-Hispanic	29,868	12,078	40.4	8,357	28.0
Manner of Death
Suicide	28,103	11,531	41.0	8,007	28.5
Homicide	11,248	4,738	42.1	2,996	26.6
Undetermined^c	3,477	1,333	38.3	850	24.4
Other^d	1,084	435	40.1	323	29.8
Month of Death ^e
January – March	9,759	3,826	39.2	2,551	26.1
April – June	10,382	4,350	41.9	2,997	28.9
July – September	10,726	4,562	42.5	3,032	28.3
October – December	9,724	3,950	40.6	2,708	27.8
Death investigation system
Centralized State Medical Examiner	19,818	6,592	33.3	4,573	23.1
County/District-based Medical Examiner	5,601	2,505	44.7	1,625	29.0
County-based Mixed Medical Examiners and Coroners	11,797	6,183	52.4	4,008	34.0
County-based Coroners	6,696	2,757	41.2	1,970	29.4
Mechanism
Firearm	22,248	9,354	42.0	6,508	29.3
Hanging, strangulation, suffocation	8,014	3,425	42.7	2,368	29.5
Poisoning	7,521	2,682	35.7	1,531	20.4
Sharp instrument	2,035	931	45.7	657	32.3
Blunt instrument	623	261	41.9	172	27.6
Body parts as personal Weapons	520	199	38.3	157	30.2
Other^f	2,561	1,020	39.8	690	26.9

BAC: Blood alcohol concentration

Decedents with a specific BAC level reported and in states with a BAC level reported for at least 75% of decedents who had been tested (excluding Maryland and New Jersey).

BAC categories are not mutually exclusive. BAC > 0.00 g/dL indicates any positive BAC.

To be included in NVDRS, deaths of undetermined intent must have some evidence of the possibility that the intent was purposeful, including use of a weapon or other evidence that force was used to inflict the injury. Most commonly, the coroner or medical examiner is unsure whether the death was a suicide or unintentional.

Includes unintentional firearm deaths or deaths by legal intervention.

Death date was based on date the death was pronounced, when available, and date of death when a date of death pronounced was not available.

Includes drowning, fall, motor vehicle, fire or burns, other transport vehicle, violent shaking, intentional neglect, and other/unknown.