The effects of alcohol consumption on the health of the population are important determinants of public policy on alcohol. A better understanding of the extent of the health impacts of alcohol, and of who is most affected and why, provides an improved basis for making policy decisions and for designing and targeting interventions to reduce harm. <BR><BR>The ALAC commissioned study <A href="http://www.alac.org.nz/FileLinks/12067_BurdenFull.516b09e5.pdf" target=_blank><EM>Burden of Death, Disease and Disability due to Alcohol in New Zealand</EM></A><EM> </EM>(PDF 564KB) aimed to assess the health impacts of alcohol consumption in New Zealand in terms of:<UL><LI>types of health conditions most affected<LI>numbers of deaths caused and prevented in a year<LI>years of life lost or gained by the population as a result. </LI></UL>The amount of non-fatal disease and disability due to alcohol was also estimated and combined with the information on deaths to produce an overal
The effects of alcohol consumption on the health of the population are important determinants of public policy on alcohol. A better understanding of the extent of the health impacts of alcohol, and of who is most affected and why, provides an improved basis for making policy decisions and for designing and targeting interventions to reduce harm.
The ALAC commissioned study
Burden of Death, Disease and Disability due to Alcohol in New Zealand (PDF 564KB) aimed to assess the health impacts of alcohol consumption in New Zealand in terms of:
- types of health conditions most affected
- numbers of deaths caused and prevented in a year
- years of life lost or gained by the population as a result.
The amount of non-fatal disease and disability due to alcohol was also estimated and combined with the information on deaths to produce an overall assessment of the health burden in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost.
Main findings
The study estimated that 3.9% of all deaths in New Zealand in 2000 were attributable to alcohol consumption (approximately 1040 deaths), and that approximately 980 deaths were prevented by alcohol, resulting in a net loss of about 60 lives.
Since many of the alcohol-attributable deaths occurred before middle age and the deaths prevented by alcohol were almost entirely amongst older people, many more years of life were lost due to alcohol than gained.
There were 17,200 years of life estimated to be lost, but only 5,300 years of life were estimated to have been gained; a net loss of almost 12,000 years of life due to alcohol in one year in New Zealand.
Loss of life resulting from alcohol use was not evenly spread in the population.
- years of life lost due to alcohol were four to five times higher for men than women, largely due to high alcohol-related mortality in men in the 15-44 year age group. This difference between men and women was seen in both the Mäori and non-Mäori populations.
- both Mäori men and Mäori women had higher death rates and YLL rates than non-Mäori of the same age.
- overall, Mäori had 4 times the alcohol-related mortality of non-Mäori, and more than double the rate of years of life lost due to alcohol, after adjustment for differences in age structure of the two populations.
- fewer lives were lost due to alcohol as well as more deaths prevented by alcohol in non-Mäori compared with Mäori, relative to the size of their populations.
Major alcohol-related health conditions: Injury 51% of alcohol-related deaths (532 deaths) and 72% of years of life lost (12,434 YLLs) were due to injuries. Most alcohol-related deaths before middle age were due to injuries.
Cancers 24% of alcohol-related deaths and 14% of YLLs resulted from cancers.
Coronary heart disease Most of the positive effects of alcohol consumption were seen in prevention of ischaemic heart disease deaths in older people who had a pattern of drinking characterised by frequent low volume intake (78% of all deaths prevented).
Reduction in deaths due to stroke, diabetes and complications of cholelithiasis made up the remainder.
The predominance of injury as a cause of death in children and young adults, and of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in older adults, means that the balance of risks and benefits of alcohol consumption depended strongly on patterns of drinking, and varied with age.
Disability-adjusted life years lost (DALY)In a separate analysis incorporating morbidity as well as mortality, the loss of 33,500 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) was attributed to alcohol for the New Zealand population in 2002. This comprised 7.4% of all DALYs lost in the population (10% of all DALYs in men and 4% in women).
The largest single cause of alcohol-related DALYs lost was alcohol use disorders, responsible for 49%.
The benefits of alcohol resulted in a gain of approximately 7,500 DALYs, and these were evenly split between men and women. Overall, there was a net loss of 26,000 DALYs attributable to alcohol, with 76% lost by men.
These figures underestimate the adverse impacts of alcohol consumption on health, as they exclude many mental health outcomes, and important social consequences.
Conclusions Alcohol is responsible for a considerable burden of ill health. While elimination of alcohol consumption is not realistic, and may not be desirable, an evidence-based approach to promoting safer drinking has the potential to reduce both acute and chronic consequences of alcohol.
Most of the benefits of alcohol are based on specific patterns of drinking, which are associated with small risk for other disease endpoints, so the burden of alcohol use could be substantially reduced while retaining the benefits.
Five major messages have emerged from this analysis:
- there are no health benefits of drinking alcohol before middle age
- the pattern of drinking is very important in determining the health effects of alcohol consumption
- injury is responsible for half of all alcohol-attributable deaths and almost three-quarters of the years of life lost due to alcohol
- there is a large burden of disability due to alcohol use disorders that is not reflected in mortality figures
- the health burden of alcohol falls inequitably on Maori.
It is increasing clear that for drinkers consuming the same average volume of alcohol, pattern of drinking has a major influence on both benefits and harms. Moving towards patterns of drinking that are safer in terms of physical health outcomes is also likely to reduce the unmeasured social consequences of alcohol consumption.
Injury is responsible for half of all alcohol-attributable deaths and almost three-quarters of the years of life lost due to alcohol.
Changes in the pattern as well as the context of much alcohol consumption will be needed to substantially reduce the burden of injury due to alcohol. Even amongst low volume regular drinkers, there are increased risks of injury associated with alcohol.
There is a huge burden of disability due to alcohol use disorders that is not reflected in mortality figures.
Our perception of the burden of alcohol is highly influenced by which measures are used to quantify it. The DALY analysis highlights the substantial morbidity from alcohol abuse and dependence in the community.
The health burden of alcohol falls inequitably on Mäori.
The combination of more harmful drinking patterns and a smaller proportion of the population in the older age groups where benefits accrue, means that the Mäori population is more adversely affected by alcohol than non-Mäori population. Almost all health benefits from alcohol consumption are in non-Mäori, and when we measure the health effects of alcohol in the combined NZ population the disparities are obscured.
Further Information
