Trend in alcohol-related deaths continues to decline
New figures from Public Health England (PHE), published today, show a continued decline in alcohol-related deaths.
The figures are the latest update to the Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) data tool and includes a new measure of alcohol-related harm. The last update was published in 2012, with the earliest comparable data published in 2006.
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National figures for alcohol-related mortality for men are down 1.9% since the last update and 7.3% over a 5-year period.
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For women, alcohol-related mortality figures are down 1.4% since the last update and 6.8% over a 5-year period.
The LAPE tool presents data for 26 alcohol-related indicators in an interactive tool, which helps local areas assess alcohol-related harm and monitor the progress of efforts to reduce this.
However, while the overall trend is downward there are still large variations between affluent and deprived areas, with some of the deprived communities seeing an increase in deaths. Of the 326 local authorities included in the data, 145 have seen an increase in alcohol-related deaths among men and 154 among women – compared to the last update in 2012.
Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions remain at similar levels with over a million admissions in 2012 to 2013. However, the figures do show a continued decline in the overall numbers of young people, aged under 18, being admitted to hospital as a result of alcohol:
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hospital admissions caused by alcohol in England for under 18s were down by 13.9% since the last update in 2012 and by 34.4% over the past 5 years.
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overall 81.3% of the 326 local authorities, showed a decline in the numbers among under 18s since the last update.
Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE said:
We welcome the continuing decline in alcohol related deaths nationally but current levels of harm caused by alcohol remain unacceptably high, especially those in deprived communities, who are not seeing reductions.
Much of this harm is preventable and we need further action at a national and local level to implement the most effective evidence based policies. Public Health England will continue to provide leadership and support to enable this and reduce the devastating harm that alcohol can cause to individuals, families and communities.
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Notes to editors
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There are 326 local authorities in England. The most affluent and most deprived were identified using the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010.
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A monthly e-bulletin bringing together the latest research evidence, policy and media articles relating to alcohol is available.
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Public Health England’s Alcohol Learning Resources website, is a national one-stop shop containing information on alcohol policy and practice as well as tools and other resources.
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Data for 26 alcohol-related indicators are presented in an interactive data tool that allows users to view data in a user-friendly format. The data tool also provides links to further supporting and relevant information to aid understanding of alcohol-related harm in a local population.
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This update contains more recent data for 17 indicators, and changes to 21 indicators to take account of population and data revisions. It includes the application of the recently updated Alcohol-Attributable Fractions, and publication of a new supplementary alcohol-related hospital admissions indicator: Admission episodes for alcohol-related conditions (narrow measure) which will be included in the next update of the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
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Public Health England’s mission is to protect and improve the nation’s health and to address inequalities through working with national and local government, the NHS, industry and the voluntary and community sector. PHE is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health.
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE_uk
Photo by eenwall. Used under Flickr Creative Commons