Seafarers and drinks industry workers have highest alcoholrelated deaths
– but doctors have sobered up

The highest levels of alcohol-related mortality are found among seafarers and workers in the drinks industry, according to a new analysis of alcohol-related deaths by occupation published by National Statistics.

In men, bar staff, publicans and managers of licensed premises top the mortality league table with twice the proportion of alcohol related deaths expected for men in England and Wales as a whole. Coal mine operatives also have particularly high rates of alcohol related deaths.

Bar staff and publicans are also the occupations with the highest proportions of alcohol-related deaths for women, and for both sexes other occupations within the drinks, catering, entertainment and hospitality industries have high indicators of alcohol-related mortality.

Particularly low levels of alcohol mortality are found in men who work as farmers, and drivers, and women who work with children.

In regard to the reasons why some occupations may be particularly prone to raised alcohol related mortality, the new analysis is consistent with previous research suggesting that a number of factors are involved, including availability of alcohol at work, social pressure to drink at work, separation from family or social relationships, freedom from supervision and collusion by colleagues. In the new analysis it is particularly clear that those employees with access to alcohol at work are more likely to die of alcohol-related causes.

Doctors on the wagon
The findings in relation to workers in the drinks and hospitality industry and most of the other occupations with high alcohol mortality replicate those of previous analyses of occupational mortality. However, one occupational group stands out as showing a marked change: male doctors, who in the past had some of the highest indicators of alcohol-related mortality, now have a substantially lower than average risk of dying from drink. This change in mortality reflects a change in drinking habits among doctors, as recent drinking surveys have found that the proportion of male doctors exceeding the ‘sensible drinking’ limits is lower than in the male population as a whole. It is thought that one factor helping to explain the changing drinking behaviour of the medical profession is the demographic shift that is taking place, with increasing proportions of the profession being drawn from ethnic minority groups, some of which have a culture of light or non-drinking. There may also be increased awareness among doctors of the risks of alcohol.

This apparently growing abstemiousness of the medical profession could be of great significance, given that the health behaviour of medical practitioners may exert a strong influence on the attitudes and health behaviour of the wider population. It is widely believed that the fact that the medical profession led the fight against tobacco smoking, with almost all doctors stopping smoking themselves, is one of the key factors explaining the success of the antismoking campaign in the UK and elsewhere. Should doctors now begin to lead the way in regard to tackling the country’s alcohol problem, this could signal a significant change in drinking culture.

* PMRs compare the proportion of all deaths in a particular occupation that are alcohol-related to the proportion in the same sex and age group in England and Wales as a whole. If the proportion of alcohol deaths was the same as that in the whole population, the PMR would equal 100. Hence a PMR of 200 indicates twice the proportion of the whole population; a PMR of 50 indicates half the proportion.