Source: Reuters on Twitter, 7/12/2021
LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) — The United Kingdom saw a record rise in the number of deaths caused by alcohol misuse last year, which public health officials said was linked to the wider social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Previous data from health authorities in England had shown a 21% rise in deaths from alcoholic liver disease last year, when COVID-19 lockdowns closed pubs but led to many heavy drinkers consuming more alcohol at home.
Between 2012 and 2019, alcohol death rates in the United Kingdom had been stable, the ONS said.
The total volume of alcohol sold in Britain in 2020 fell slightly.
But a survey in March 2021 showed a rise in the number of people who admitted drinking what health officials consider dangerous amounts — equivalent to five bottles of wine a week for men, or three and a half for women.
In line with previous years, men were more than twice as likely as women to die of alcohol-specific causes.
Liver disease was the biggest cause of alcohol-specific deaths, accounting for 78% of fatalities, followed by mental and behavioural disorders at 12% and ‘external causes’ such as accidental poisoning at 6%.
Official figures show deaths increased nearly 19% in 2020 as Public Health England notes changing consumption patterns
Britain’s lockdown drinking habits may have had fatal consequences.
Deaths caused by alcohol in 2020 increased by almost 19%, marking the biggest rise since records began, according to the Office for National Statistics.
There were 8,974 deaths from alcohol specific causes registered in the 12 month period, up from 7,565 deaths in 2019 – the highest year-on-year increase since the data series began in 2001.
It bucks a trend in which fatalities from alcohol remained stable for the previous seven years.
Scotland and Northern Ireland continued to have the highest rates of alcohol deaths, but the fastest rises were in Wales and England.
The sharpest rise in deaths in England was in the West Midlands, followed by the south-west and London.
Nearly twice as many men died as women, which is consistent with previous years.
The threat of liver disease had been growing before the pandemic.
Liver mortality rates in England increased 43% between 2001 and 2019, to the extent that liver disease became the second leading disease causing premature death among people of working age, according to PHE.
Previous studies have shown that while there was an increase in the number of people abstaining from alcohol, in the early months of lockdown people with problem drinking either increased their intake or broke a dry period.
Sources: The Guardian, Reuters, 7/12/2021
Last Updated on 07.12.2021 by iskova