Deaths from alcohol for women are at their highest point since records began, according to statistics released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A total of 2,560 women died from alcohol-related diseases in the UK in 2017, the most recent year for which statistics are available. This translates to 8 deaths per 100,000, up from 7.5 deaths last year.

 

Despite these historic figures for alcohol-related deaths for women, figures for men continue to be at least double the rates among women, with 16.8 deaths per 100,000.

It’s not clear exactly why the alcohol-related deaths for women is so high.

Karen Tyrell, Executive Director of External Affairs at addiction charity Addaction, said: “Historically we haven’t always made it easy for women to ask for help. Treatment services are sometimes quite male dominated, which can be a barrier for women who’ve experienced abuse or trauma.”

She added: “We need to work much harder to provide safe spaces that recognise the challenges women face.”

Overall, people dying in the UK from alcohol-related diseases are now at 12.2 deaths per 100,000 people, a level not seen since 2008, their highest ever point.

This increase in alcohol-related deaths comes amid several changes in the law related to alcohol consumption. Earlier this year, Wales passed a law that sets a minimum price for alcohol law.

After figures emerged that alcohol sold below 50p per unit makes up 72% of the beer sales in Welsh shops, parliament passed a bill to set a minimum price per unit.

Scotland also approved a minimum price per unit of 50p last year, when the UK Supreme Court approved the legislation after five years of legal struggle when the Scottish parliament first passed the bill in 2013.

While minimum-price law opposition claims the Scottish law is a restriction on free trade, Scotland is the only country to see a statistically significant decrease in alcohol-related deaths rates since 2001 – a claim that minimum-price campaigners will see as proof that the law is working.

England still has no minimum-price law for alcohol, despite calls from public health campaigners.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “We need the government to change direction when they launch a new alcohol strategy next year. It must include a commitment to introduce a minimum unit price which will target the cheapest, strongest alcohol consumed by the heaviest drinkers.”

The statistics produced by the ONS define alcohol-specific deaths as “only those health conditions where each death is a direct consequence of alcohol misuse.” They do not include partially-attributable deaths, such as cancers that have been strongly linked to high alcohol consumption.

As a result, the true numbers for alcohol-related deaths are probably much higher.

Sources: https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/alcoholspecificdeathsinukregisteredin2017