The health and psychosocial burden of alcohol abuse

Abstract

A ccording to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2013) the harmful use of alcohol results in 2.5 million worldwide deaths each year, with 320 000 young people aged 15–29 years dying from alcohol-related causes each year. This amounts to 9% of all deaths in that age group (WHO, 2013). Alcohol is the world’s third largest risk factor for disease burden; it is the leading risk factor in the Western Pacific and the Americas and the second largest in Europe (WHO, 2013). There is a mass of evidence demonstrating that alcohol misuse and alcohol-related problems compromise individual and psycho-social health and wellbeing (WHO, 2010; 2013; Department of Health (DH), 2013). This burden of alcohol misuse also affects the UK. According to the DH (2013), the consequences of alcohol misuse costs the country £21 billion pounds each year and the healthcare cost related to alcohol abuse is £1.6 billion pounds per year (DH, 2005; 2008; 2011; 2013). The increased number of patients being admitted with alcohol-related complications is costing the NHS 3% of its budget each year. For a significant and growing number of people in the UK, alcohol consumption is a major cause of ill health, with more than 10 million people in England (31% of men and 20% of women) regularly drinking above the recommended alcohol limits (National Audit Office, 2008; DH, 2013). The incidence of alcohol-related illness has risen over the past 20 years, with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (2010) suggesting that 26% of adults not only drink above the recommended limits, but also drink in a manner that is actively harmful (impacts adversely on human physiology and health). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2011) states that the number of alcoholrelated deaths in the UK has risen since the early 1990s, from the lowest figure of 4023 (6.7 per 100 000 population) in 1992 to the highest of 9031 (13.6 per 100 000) in 2008 (ONS, 2011). Government recommendations state that men should drink no more than 3–4 units of alcohol a day, and that women should drink no more than 2–3 units a day. However, research suggests that many men and women exceed these recommended limits (DH, 2011).