DDN

Alcohol-related death rates double

15 February 2010

Rates of alcohol-related death in the UK have doubled since the early 1990s, according to a new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In 1992 the death rate stood at 6.7 per 100,000 population but had risen to 13.6 per 100,000 by 2008, according to Alcohol-related deaths in the United Kingdom 1991-2008. Between 2007 and 2008 the number of deaths rose from 8,724 to 9,031.
There are more than double the number of alcohol-related deaths in men as women, says the report – 18.7 per 100,000 men compared to 8.7 per 100,000 women. The rate of male deaths has more than doubled, from a starting point of 9.1 per 100,000 in 1991, and in 2008 deaths in males accounted for around two thirds of total alcohol-related deaths, at just under 6,000. Highest death rates for both sexes were in the 55-74 age group – in men in this age range, the rate had increased from 23 per 100,000 in 1992 to 45.8 per 100,000 in 2008.
‘The number of alcohol-related deaths in the United Kingdom has consistently increased since the early 1990s,’ states the ONS. ‘Although figures in recent years suggested that the trend was levelling out, alcohol-related deaths in males increased further in 2008. Female rates have remained stable.’
The figures relate to deaths from causes ‘regarded as being most directly due to alcohol consumption,’ says ONS, such as alcohol poisoning, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis and alcohol dependence. They do not include diseases where alcohol has been shown to have a causal relationship, like cancers of the liver, mouth and oesophagus, or road accidents.
The Department of Health recently launched a £6m press, TV and billboard awareness campaign to alert people to the unseen health harms caused by what Alcohol Concern has called ‘regular drinking of what many people mistakenly consider to be low level quantities’ (DDN, 1 February, page 4).
‘As levels of consumption have increased over the last 10 to 15 years we have seen a huge rise in alcohol-related problems,’ said Alcohol Concern chief executive Don Shenker. ‘These deaths are tragic and avoidable. They are all the more shocking by the government’s lack of action in tackling the cheap price of alcohol. There is a wealth of national and international evidence that shows that the cut-price booze, predominantly sold in supermarkets, is the main driver of increased drinking in the UK. Even the government’s chief medical officer has recommended that minimum pricing should be introduced.
‘We understand that such a measure would not be popular in an election year – but public health needs to come before politics,’ he continued. ‘Evidence has shown that most people significantly underestimate the amount they drink and this lack of awareness is storing up catastrophic health implications for the future.’
Report available at www.statistics.gov.uk

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