Alcohol-Induced Death the Highest in Over a Decade: Report

Alcohol is an alluring solution to so many of life's problems. It numbs our minds and drowns our hearts but its momentary relief comes with consequences.gresei/Shutterstock

There was a 9.1 percent alcohol-induced death increase in 2022, the highest in over a decade, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Sept. 27.

The ABS Causes of Death Australia report revealed 1,742 alcohol-induced deaths (1,245 males and 497 females) occurred in 2022, or 164 more since 2021.

The most significant increase was in females aged 45-64 years (55 more deaths) and males aged 65-84 years (47 more deaths).

ABS noted alcohol-induced deaths are those where the underlying cause was directly attributed to alcohol use, including acute conditions like alcohol poisoning or chronic conditions like alcoholic liver disease, the latter being the leading cause of the rate increase.

The Alcohol and Drug Foundation CEO Dr. Erin Lalor said the “largely preventable” increase highlighted the need for evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, and treatment services urgently.

Dr. Lalor said more robust alcohol availability and promotion regulations were also needed due to the two leading to higher-risk drinking.

She said directing people to the best services for their circumstances could shift attitudes and behaviours towards alcohol and encourage early behaviour change.

“We know that men experience a significant proportion of alcohol harm, and this data shows the importance of targeted interventions with vulnerable populations, including people with long-term alcohol use problems,” she said.

“We can’t afford to delay action further to reduce these unacceptable numbers, which have been increasing since 2018.”

Alcohol Service Use the Highest in a Decade

It comes as alcohol service reach-out is the highest in a decade, too, with around 228,500 treatment episodes provided to 131,000 clients in 2021–22, according to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report released on Jun. 21.

The AIHW 2021–22 Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia report revealed alcohol was the most common drug for which clients sought treatment (42 percent of episodes), followed by amphetamines (24 percent), cannabis (19 percent) and heroin (4.5 percent).

Counselling was the most common treatment type, accounting for 36 percent (83,326) of cases.

Meanwhile, 3 in 5 people (60 percent) who received treatment were male, and 52 percent were aged 20–39, with 37 being the median age.

Alcoholic Liver Disease On the Rise

Although alcoholic liver disease for men and women is lower now than it was in the early 1980s, these improvements have stalled, with women now seeing an increase again, according to an InSight study released on June 22, which examined trends in alcoholic liver disease deaths over 50 years.

The study titled “Trends in alcohol-related liver disease mortality in Australia: An age–period–cohort perspective,” found alcoholic liver disease death rates were highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s before falling steadily (especially for men) in the early 2000s.

The rates have been relatively steady for the past 15 years but slightly increased for women due to a shift in women’s drinking social norms.

Curtin University National Drug Research Institute Associate Prof. Michael Livingston said increasing prices through tax or minimum unit pricing, reduced marketing exposure, and physical alcohol availability will reduce increased consumption and mortality.

He said interventions focused on women approaching retirement age might be especially worthwhile.

“And developing appropriate interventions at the general population, primary care, and treatment sector levels should be a key priority to prevent ongoing increases in premature mortality among this generation of women,” he said.

“Of course, male rates of alcohol-related liver disease mortality remain higher than women’s and improving brief intervention and treatment access across the entire population is crucial.”

He added ongoing alcohol death increases point to a potentially overlooked public health challenge.

“State and federal governments must pay attention to this constant driver of avoidable early mortality,” he said.

Campaign Against Alcohol Gaining Traction

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the government supported public health policy development free from commercial and other vested interests as outlined in the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030.

Mr. Butler said the strategy was developed with input from governments, public health experts, police, community-based organisations and researchers, adding alcohol lobby groups did not have an influence on it.

Several public health gains have been made, according to the strategy.

Australia’s overall consumption of alcohol per capita declined, and the percentage of people reporting abstinence remained relatively stable between 2009 and 2018.

“Some Australians regard drinking as the cultural norm, and people may not recognise that they are consuming alcohol in quantities that are damaging to their health,” the report said.

“Many are unaware of how consuming alcohol contributes to cancer, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, liver and digestive disease.”

The government wants to restrict exposure to alcohol marketing for children and youth, including through digital media, before 2030.

Meanwhile, Cancer Council’s Alcohol Working Group Chair Danica Keric said Australians increasingly recognise alcohol causes community damage, prompting them to complain under the alcohol industry’s revised Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) Scheme, which monitors advertising standards.

“Every day, Australian families are subjected to numerous alcohol ads for products that are known to increase the risk of a range of health harms, including seven types of cancer. Governments must not let the alcohol industry continue to call the shots on the advertising of their products, putting their profits over people’s health,” Ms. Keric said.