18 min
Alcohol Alert - July 2022 Alcohol Alert Podcast
-
- News Commentary
Hello and welcome to the Alcohol Alert, brought to you by The Institute of Alcohol Studies.
In this edition:
* Shift in England’s drinking during COVID-19 could lead to 150,000 more cases of disease by 2035 🎵 Podcast feature 🎵
* The global burden of poor analysis
* Minimum pricing has never been promoted as a panacea
* Pubs: “lost forever” or consolidated?
* Health Disparities white paper delayed
* Boris Johnson “minimises” sexual harassment and blames alcohol
* Industry arguments dominate Commons debate on alcohol tax reform
* Alcohol packaging captures the attention of and creates appeal among young people
* Alcohol Toolkit Study: update
We hope you enjoy our roundup of stories below: please feel free to share. Thank you.
IAS Blogs
To read blogs click here.
Shift in England’s drinking during COVID-19 could lead to 150,000 more cases of disease by 2035 🎵 Podcast feature 🎵
A new IAS and HealthLumen modelling study suggests changes in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to lead to thousands of additional cases of diseases and premature deaths.
The pandemic saw heavier drinkers consuming more alcohol and this trend is continuing. If consumption does not return to 2019 levels or lower, England could see an additional 147,892 cases and 9,914 additional premature deaths from nine alcohol-related diseases, costing the NHS £1.2bn.
Three scenarios were modelled between 2022 and 2035 to project how recent changes in drinking may affect health harm from nine alcohol-related diseases: high blood pressure, stroke, liver cirrhosis, and six forms of cancer. The research found:
Joint Lead on the study Dr Sadie Boniface said:
“Much of the health harm from alcohol is from chronic diseases which take years to develop. Our results shed light on the long-term impacts of recent changes in drinking patterns.
“These increases in alcohol harm, lives lost, and costs to the NHS projected in our study are not inevitable.
“Deaths from alcohol are at record levels, and this research should act as a ‘wake-up call’ to take alcohol harm seriously as part of recovery planning from the pandemic.”
A very similar modelling study by the University of Sheffield was published at the same time and backed up IAS’ findings. The Sheffield study looked at more diseases across a longer period of time, so projected higher alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions.
Dr Boniface was interviewed on the BBC News, explaining the study findings and implications:
If you missed our launch webinar, where Dr Boniface and Sheffield’s lead author Colin Angus presented their studies, you can catch up on YouTube here.
The global burden of poor analysis
In mid-July, a new Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study was published in The Lancet. The GBD study is a long-running observational epidemiological study. Their new publication was widely covered in the media with most either stating that “alcohol is never good for people under 40” or “Young people should not drink alcohol but older people may benefit from small amounts”.
The study found that for men aged 15-39, the recommended amount of alcohol before “risking health loss” was just 0.136 of a standard drink a day. For women of the same age, the “theoretical minimum risk exposure level” was 0.273 drinks – about a quarter of a standard drink a day.
Among those aged 40-64, safe alcohol consumption levels ranged from about half a standard drink a day to almost two standard drinks. For those aged 65 or older, the risks of “health loss from alcohol consumption” were reached after consuming a little more than three standard drinks a day.
The senior author, Dr Emmanuela Gakidou, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, said:
“Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts.”
This is in contrast to their study four year ago, whic
Hello and welcome to the Alcohol Alert, brought to you by The Institute of Alcohol Studies.
In this edition:
* Shift in England’s drinking during COVID-19 could lead to 150,000 more cases of disease by 2035 🎵 Podcast feature 🎵
* The global burden of poor analysis
* Minimum pricing has never been promoted as a panacea
* Pubs: “lost forever” or consolidated?
* Health Disparities white paper delayed
* Boris Johnson “minimises” sexual harassment and blames alcohol
* Industry arguments dominate Commons debate on alcohol tax reform
* Alcohol packaging captures the attention of and creates appeal among young people
* Alcohol Toolkit Study: update
We hope you enjoy our roundup of stories below: please feel free to share. Thank you.
IAS Blogs
To read blogs click here.
Shift in England’s drinking during COVID-19 could lead to 150,000 more cases of disease by 2035 🎵 Podcast feature 🎵
A new IAS and HealthLumen modelling study suggests changes in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to lead to thousands of additional cases of diseases and premature deaths.
The pandemic saw heavier drinkers consuming more alcohol and this trend is continuing. If consumption does not return to 2019 levels or lower, England could see an additional 147,892 cases and 9,914 additional premature deaths from nine alcohol-related diseases, costing the NHS £1.2bn.
Three scenarios were modelled between 2022 and 2035 to project how recent changes in drinking may affect health harm from nine alcohol-related diseases: high blood pressure, stroke, liver cirrhosis, and six forms of cancer. The research found:
Joint Lead on the study Dr Sadie Boniface said:
“Much of the health harm from alcohol is from chronic diseases which take years to develop. Our results shed light on the long-term impacts of recent changes in drinking patterns.
“These increases in alcohol harm, lives lost, and costs to the NHS projected in our study are not inevitable.
“Deaths from alcohol are at record levels, and this research should act as a ‘wake-up call’ to take alcohol harm seriously as part of recovery planning from the pandemic.”
A very similar modelling study by the University of Sheffield was published at the same time and backed up IAS’ findings. The Sheffield study looked at more diseases across a longer period of time, so projected higher alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions.
Dr Boniface was interviewed on the BBC News, explaining the study findings and implications:
If you missed our launch webinar, where Dr Boniface and Sheffield’s lead author Colin Angus presented their studies, you can catch up on YouTube here.
The global burden of poor analysis
In mid-July, a new Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study was published in The Lancet. The GBD study is a long-running observational epidemiological study. Their new publication was widely covered in the media with most either stating that “alcohol is never good for people under 40” or “Young people should not drink alcohol but older people may benefit from small amounts”.
The study found that for men aged 15-39, the recommended amount of alcohol before “risking health loss” was just 0.136 of a standard drink a day. For women of the same age, the “theoretical minimum risk exposure level” was 0.273 drinks – about a quarter of a standard drink a day.
Among those aged 40-64, safe alcohol consumption levels ranged from about half a standard drink a day to almost two standard drinks. For those aged 65 or older, the risks of “health loss from alcohol consumption” were reached after consuming a little more than three standard drinks a day.
The senior author, Dr Emmanuela Gakidou, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, said:
“Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts.”
This is in contrast to their study four year ago, whic
18 min