News
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- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
- Scotlands new drug and alcohol strategy launched
- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Cross-Party Group Improving Scotland's health: 2021 and beyond October 2018
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- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
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- Alcohol-specific deaths remain at very high levels
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- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
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- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
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- Minimum pricing blog
- Minimum pricing gets green light
- Reflections on GAPC 2017
- Alcohol brands and young people
- Time for honest conversations about alcohol
- Q&A on alcohol marketing
- UK children anxious about parents' drinking
- Quarter of Scots drink above guidelines
- Alcohol producers failing to inform public
- Concern over alcohol-related deaths
- We need to make it easier for people to drink less
- Worrying rise in alcohol-related deaths
- Minimum pricing will save lives
- Pocket money prices for alcohol continue
- Scotland's alcohol problem laid bare
- Cheap alcohol is costing Scotland dear
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- What next for reducing alcohol harm in Scotland?
- Scotland must do more to turn tide of alcohol harm
- Concern as funding for alcohol services cut
- Budget: No change in alcohol duty
- Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing
- Consumers have the right to know health risks
- Chancellor urged to tackle cheap, strong cider in Budget
- Online help for families affected by alcohol
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
- Drink drive warning
- Scottish Greens call for action on alcohol marketing
- Scottish Government receives European alcohol award
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- Half of alcohol being sold under 50p per unit
- SWA urged to respect minimum pricing decision
- Alcohol and mental health are closely linked
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- Alcohol sold at pocket money prices
- Scotland has so much to gain from reducing how much we drink
- AFS welcomes revised alcohol consumption guidelines
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- Public health must prevail over big business
- New toolkit to help children affected by family alcohol problems
- Price check reveals cheap cost of strong alcohol
- Sales increase underlines need for minimum pricing
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- Alcohol linked with stomach cancer
- AFS calls for compulsory health warnings on alcoholic drinks
- Are supermarkets 'responsible retailers' when it comes to alcohol?
- Scottish health charities call for excise duty rise to tackle cheap alcohol
- Alcohol campaigners unite to call for stronger protection from alcohol advertising to children
- New resource for people concerned about alcohol in their community
- Minimum pricing decision delayed until summer
- No completely 'safe' level of drinking
- New alcohol guidelines published
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
- Alcohol fuels ambulance assaults
- 82% of Scots agree drink driving is unacceptable
- Scotland's alcohol strategy - what next?
- Scotland leads way in evidence-based alcohol policy
- New report reveals impact of alcohol on emergency services
- Alcohol: a global concern
Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
New report shows truer picture of alcohol's contribution to ill health in Scotland.
Analysis has revealed the extent to which alcohol contributes to ill health and admissions to hospital in Scotland. The report by NHS Health Scotland shows that, alongside conditions commonly associated with alcohol consumption, such as liver disease, alcohol also has an important role in injuries and the development of other conditions, such as cancer and strokes.
NHS Health Scotland looked at the number of deaths and hospital admissions caused by alcohol consumption in 2015. The study also looked at what it was that people were dying from or alcohol-related conditions that made them ill.
The analysis found that alcohol contributed to 3705 deaths, and that more of these deaths were from cancer than liver disease. Furthermore it showed that 41,161 people were admitted to hospital as a result of alcohol consumption in the same year, and that 1 in 4 of these admissions was due to unintentional injury.
Burden of Disease Attributable to Alcohol Consumption in Scotland (pdf)
Briefing on NHS Health Scotland report (pdf)
Alison Douglas, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said:
“This research shows that alcohol causes around 1 in 15 deaths in Scotland. These deaths can be from falls, road traffic accidents and alcohol poisoning, as a result of one bout of drinking. Others, such as mental illness, stroke and cancer, are likely to be the result of drinking over longer periods. It's not just 'alcoholics' who suffer - we need to stop kidding ourselves it's someone else's problem.
"Minimum unit pricing will save lives and is a strong start to turning this around. But we all have a right to information which enables us to make healthier choices. That's why mandatory labelling is essential.
"We also need to reduce the exposure of our children to alcohol marketing given the clear evidence that this increases the likelihood they will start to drink and that they will drink more."
Elaine Tod, Public Health Intelligence Adviser at NHS Health Scotland, said:
“Overall, the results tell us that alcohol consumption has a significant impact on health in Scotland – in fact, it contributed to over 100,000 years of life lost due to early death or living in poor health in 2015. Alcohol has a wider impact on our health than many people think.
“Reducing harmful alcohol consumption will reduce this impact, and that would benefit everyone: drinkers and non-drinkers, children and families, communities, the NHS and emergency services, employers and the economy. Preventative action is necessary if Scotland is to make long-term reductions in alcohol-related harm.”
Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK's prevention expert, said:
"Alcohol is linked to seven types of cancer including breast and bowel cancer, and the more you drink the greater your risk of cancer. Yet we know public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer is low. Much more needs to be done to increase public understanding.”