Alcohol Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alcohol, including details on use, abuse, treatment, health, rehab.

Alcohol as a certified cause of death in a 'middle England' population 1979-1999: database study.

Goldacre MJ, Duncan M, Griffith M, Cook-Mozaffari P

Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Oxford OX3 7LF. michael.goldacre@dphpc.ox.ac.uk

The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England, recently published, highlights current concerns about alcohol consumption in this country. We used a database to examine trends in mortality for all deaths certified as effects of alcohol from 1979-1999, including mentions as well as underlying cause, in a relatively prosperous population in southern England. Mortality, certified as direct effects of alcohol, tripled during the 21 years of study; and mortality rates based on mentions were about double those based on underlying cause. The increase in recent years in mortality based on mentions was considerably greater than that based on underlying cause. Data on age, sex and occupational social class show that people whose alcohol intake kills them are from a broad cross-section of society.

Published 15 December 2004 in J Public Health (Oxf), 26(4): 343-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Alcohol Research Today. All Rights Reserved.