Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic - London

BMA Board of Science
Figure 12 – age-standardised alcohol-related death rates by deprivation twentieth and
sex, England and Wales, 1999-2003
Age-standardised rate per 100,000 population
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Least deprived Most deprived
The overall rates for men and women in England and Wales were 14.1 and 6.9 respectively.
Source: Office for National Statistics (2007)
Men
Women
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Deprivation twentieth (Carstairs deprivation index)
An important measure of alcohol-related deaths is the rate of mortality due to liver cirrhosis. k
In
England, the rate of liver cirrhosis mortality approximately trebled between 1970 and 1998, while the
rate in the EU decreased by 30 per cent. 73
In the 35 to 44 years age group the death rate increased
eight-fold in men and almost seven-fold in women, while there was a four-fold increase in 25 to 34
year-olds. 73
A study of liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Britain from 1950-54 to 2000-02 found that rates
in men increased five-fold in England and Wales and six-fold in Scotland over this period. 74
In women,
there was a corresponding four-fold increase. 74
This increase occurred in both the 15 to 44 years age
group and the 45 to 64 years age group, although the absolute rates were much higher in the older
group. 74
In comparison to the rates in 12 other western European countries l
over a similar period, these
increases were found to be the steepest rise in western Europe where the rate of mortality has been
declining since the early 1970s. 74
The mortality rates for Scotland across both age-groups and sexes are
now one of the highest in western Europe and while the absolute rates in England and Wales remain
relatively low, the steep increase in recent years have seen the rates beginning to exceed the western
European average. 74
In Wales, the number of alcohol-related deaths more than doubled between 1992
and 2005, increasing from 199 to 407. 95
In 2005, 63 per cent (255) of these deaths were among males,
of which 46 per cent were aged 45 to 74. 75
Corresponding data are not available for Northern Ireland.
k There are many different causes of liver cirrhosis of which sustained alcohol misuse and hepatitis C infection are the most
common.
l The 12 western European countries included in the study were Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic 35