Alcohol & Diseases

Over 60 diseases or types of trauma have been linked with alcohol use, and this does not include numerous social or other population-level problems.

Average alcohol consumption is causally related to the following major diseases:

• Tuberculosis
• Mouth, nasopharynx, other pharynx and oropharynx cancer
• Oesophageal cancer
• Colon and rectum cancer
• Liver cancer
• Female breast cancer
• Diabetes mellitus
• Alcohol use disorders
• Unipolar depressive disorders
• Epilepsy
• Hypertensive heart disease
• Ischaemic heart disease (IHD)
• Ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke
• Conduction disorders and other dysrhythmias
• Lower respiratory infections (pneumonia)
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• Preterm birth complications and feotal alcohol syndrome.

Recent studies focusing on 14 countries in Europe and Canada have found a strong association between overall consumption rates and liver cirrhosis mortality, alcohol-specific mortality, traffic-related deaths, suicides, homicides and total mortality.

For a list of short and long term effects of drinking too much alcohol, please visit:

• short term effects
• long term effects