Alcohol Deaths Double

Alcohol deaths have more than doubled in the last decade because of binge drinking youngsters, shocking Government figures released today reveal.

The Office for National Statistics revealed there were 8,380 deaths in the UK that were directly linked to alcohol in 2004, the latest year for which data is available, compared with just 4,144 in 1991.

The biggest rises and highest death rates were for men and women aged 35-54, suggesting that binge-drinking youngsters in their 20s are lining themselves up for a slow death by chronic liver disease in later life.

Alcohol Concern said the huge rise was "worrying" and warned it was due to an increase in heavy drinking among young people, which the Government had failed to address.

The ONS figures, based on its data from England and Wales plus data from similar statistics agencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, show that between 1991 and 2004 the alcohol-related death rate in the UK more than doubled from 6.9 to 13.0 deaths per 100,000 population.

More than two-thirds of these deaths were men and by far the highest rate was in those aged 35-54, which more than doubled from 16.9 to 38.3 per 100,000.

In women of the same age, the rate nearly doubled from 9.3 to 17.9 per 100,000. But deaths soared in men and women of all ages.

Helen Symons, of charity Alcohol Concern, said: "These new figures are certainly worrying, particularly the increase in death rates for people in their 30s and 40s, which may indicate that increased drinking at an earlier age is having a serious impact on health later in life.

"Alcoholic liver disease takes a long time to develop, so if somebody is dying of it in their mid-30s, that's probably as a result of them drinking heavily throughout their 20s.

"We've seen an increase in alcohol consumption in recent decades. Alcohol has become much more affordable, which contributes to the drinking culture.

"That goes hand in hand with the rise in deaths due to alcohol. This increase in alcohol-related deaths demonstrates that alcohol misuse is one of the most serious public health problems facing the UK, and that it needs to be tackled urgently."

But she warned that only very few problem drinkers get proper support. She said: "Ultimately, all these deaths are preventable. Access to support services for people who drink in a way that damages their health is absolutely critical.

"Despite the severity of the issue, of those people who need treatment for an alcohol problem, 17 out of 18 do not get the support they need. If the government is serious about reducing the damage that alcohol misuse does to individuals, families, communities and the economy, then it needs to act now to make alcohol treatment the priority it so urgently needs to be."

The vast majority of the 8,380 deaths in 2004 were due to chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, but the figure also includes those from accidental alcohol poisoning, alcoholic cardiomyopathy (heart damage) and "mental and behavioural disorders" due to alcohol misuse.

But ONS officials admit the true death toll could be far higher as the figure include only cases where alcohol is named on the death certificate as the underlying cause of death, and ignores those where alcohol is mentioned as a complicating factor.

Also excluded are many thousands of deaths from various diseases for which alcohol is thought to be a cause, such cancers of the mouth and liver, and also those from drink-drive road crashes, suicides and homicides.

The ONS says it is difficult to tell how many of these deaths are due to alcohol and how many to other causes

National News