Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – It can almost be expected that those of legal drinking age use alcohol, but in some areas, it’s used more than others.

A first-time report from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) details how much adults drink, how often, and how deaths are sometimes contributed to chronic alcohol use, liver disease, and other associated problems.

Also, one section of the state seems to have a dubious honor.

“There was the concern of death from alcohol-related issues, whether that was the percentage of people killed in motor vehicle crashes, where a driver had alcohol, or alcohol-related liver disease, which really varied by region,” said Dr. Sameer Vohra, IDPH Director, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch.  “Our Peoria region had the highest rate.”

Peoria, Vohra says, had a rate of 5.2 deaths per 100,000 people connected to alcohol-related liver disease.  That rate is lower than the greater Chicago region, which had a rate of 2.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

As for why Peoria seemed to even surpass places like Chicagoland, he says more information needs to be gathered. But some of the data varied widely by region.

“We want to move toward education, put the report out there, so people can understand.  Often, we think that this is not a problem in our community, but it’s a problem somewhere else,” said Vohra.  “We know form statistics like this…that really speaks to a really big chunk of the population.”

Vohra says working with community partners all over the state for education would be ideal, and that will make what he says would be the most meaningful impact.  Vohra prefers education over legislative or criminal-related sanctions.