100 Scots per day treated for alcohol-related injuries

Scotland’s accident and emergency rooms dealt with 36,000 alcohol-related admissions in 2009, according to the latest issue of Alcohol Statistics Scotland.

The figures show that, in total, there were 39,278 alcohol-related discharges from Scottish hospitals - nearly 100 every day - with 92% of these coming from A&E departments. This does, however, represent a small decrease compared with the previous year.

They also show that Scots continue to out-drink the English and the Welsh, consuming an average of 11.9 litres of alcohol each in 2009. Over a third of men and women were exceeding the recommended daily limits for alcohol units on their highest drinking day during the week, while over 50% said they drank most of their alcohol at home.

Alcohol was recorded as the underlying cause of 1,282 of the 53,856 deaths registered in Scotland in 2009, a small drop from the previous year. Deaths and disease from alcohol are disproportionately high in the most deprived areas of the country. People living in Scotland’s poorest areas are seven and a half times more likely to be treated in hospital suffering from alcohol problems.

In terms of age, an analysis of the figures for 2003 shows that deaths from alcohol in men and women are highest in the age group 35 - 54. (See graph showing alcohol attributable deaths below.)

However, although the highest numbers of deaths were seen in older age groups, younger age groups were more likely to be affected by their alcohol use as a proportion of overall deaths. For example, among 16 to 24 year old males, 17.5% of all deaths in this age group were estimated to be caused by attributable alcohol conditions. Over one in four (26.1%) of deaths in men and one in five of deaths (21.1%) in women aged 35 to 44 years old in 2003 were attributable to alcohol consumption. This compares to 2.0% and 1.1% in men and women aged 75 and over respectively.

Below the age of 35, alcohol attributable deaths were most likely to occur from the acute consequences of alcohol consumption, in particular, intentional self-harm and road traffi c accidents.

Beyond the age of 35, chronic diseases, including mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol use, alcoholic liver disease, cancer of the oesophagus and breast, colorectal cancer and hypertensive diseases were the more common causes of alcohol attributable deaths.

In relation to social harm, (see graph below) over 60% of both male and female violent offenders are under the influence of alcohol at the time of their offence, with high percentages of victims also being under the influence.

Dr Evelyn Gillan, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said the figures showed that alcohol was still “ruining lives” in Scotland.

She added: “It’s worrying that the number of people dying from alcohol-related deaths has almost doubled since 2003. As a nation, Scotland needs to drink less and we need to push up the price of alcohol and also make it less available.

“These figures show we have a serious problem with alcohol and parties need to work together to bring in stronger policies to bring these figures down.” Responding to the figures, Scottish Government Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “Almost £100m has been invested in local services to prevent alcohol-related problems occurring and in providing treatment and support for those who already have problems. However, there is still a great deal of work to be done.

That is why our Alcohol Framework outlines a package of over 40 measures to reduce alcohol-related harm by helping prevent problems arising in the first place and by improving support and treatment for those who are already experiencing problems.”

Ms Sturgeon said the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Parliament last November, was a “significant step” in tackling alcohol problems; however, she re-stated the Scottish Government’s position on minimum pricing, which was not included in the act. She added: “We still consider minimum pricing to be the most effective and efficient way of reducing alcohol consumption and hence alcohol-related harms.”