UK alcohol deaths surged during pandemic
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The UK rate of deaths from alcohol-specific causes hit a record high in 2022, rising 41 per cent on pre-Covid pandemic levels, according to official data.
There were 16.6 deaths caused by alcohol per 100,000 in 2022, compared with 11.8 in 2019, the Office for National Statistics said on Monday. The figure was the highest since records began in 2001.
“Research has suggested that people who were already drinking at high levels before the pandemic were the most likely to have increased their drinking,” said David Mais, ONS health statistician.
An in previous years, men were around twice as likely as women to die from health conditions caused by alcohol. But the data showed women had been most acutely affected, with a 44 per cent rise in the death rate between 2019 and 2022, compared with 39 per cent for men.
Dr Katherine Severi, chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, a research body, said women were targeted with “aggressive marketing” and “gendered promotions” that portray alcohol as a tool for female empowerment and a way to cope with motherhood.
“There are no awareness campaigns countering this and discussing the health risks of alcohol to women, such as how alcohol causes 10 per cent of breast cancers,” she added.
Severi said more support was needed for women who experience alcohol problems as they are less likely to seek help and access treatment services than men.
In England, alcohol misuse costs the NHS an estimated £3.5bn a year with an annual wider societal cost of at least £25bn, including crime and loss of work, according to estimates by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
Liver disease remained the leading cause of death, accounting for just over three-quarters of the 10,048 deaths registered in 2022. This was followed by mental and behavioural disorders due to the use of alcohol, which rose from 12.7 per cent of deaths in 2019 to 14.9 per cent in 2022.
Adam Briggs, senior policy fellow at think-tank the Health Foundation, said there was still no sign of a national alcohol strategy to address the harm of excessive drinking.
“Supporting councils to consider public health as part of licensing decisions and restricting advertising in public places will help create healthier communities,” he added.
“At the national level, Scotland raised minimum unit alcohol pricing from 50p to 65p after a successful evaluation. Wales and the Republic of Ireland have followed suit and we can learn from their example,” Briggs noted.
UK households spent almost £22bn on alcohol to consume at home in 2022, down from a record £26bn in 2020, according to data from NHS Digital, which also showed alcohol affordability has increased by two-thirds in the past two decades.
Dr Richard Piper, chief executive of charity and campaign group Alcohol Change UK, said there had been “years of inaction” by the government and recommended the tougher regulation of marketing, clearer labelling and setting a minimum price for a unit of alcohol.