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How many people develop serious health problems as a result of alcohol consumption?

There are a range of serious health problems (e.g. cirrhosis of the liver, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, mental health, long-term disability) that can result from excessive alcohol consumption or can be attributed to alcohol in some way.

Wholly alcohol attributable diseases

Mortality and morbidity are good indicators of long-term health related harm. Data collected by the New Zealand Health Information Service on causes of death and morbidity allow identification of those which are wholly alcohol attributable. Between 2000 and 2004 there were on average 163 deaths annually attributable to wholly alcohol-related diseases. Further analysis also revealed that:

the male rate of death for wholly alcohol attributable diseases is three times higher than for females and Mäori rates are approximately double those for non-Mäori
over half of all deaths were caused by cirrhosis of the liver, followed by alcoholic cardiomyopathy (chronic disease of the heart muscle)
there were nine deaths from alcohol poisoning in the under 5 age group, and another nine in the 15-24 years age group.

Between 2000 and 2006 morbidity data collected by the New Zealand Health Information Service found that the number of hospitalisations for wholly alcohol attributable diseases remained stable ranging from 35.9 per 100,000 population to 36.7. It was also found that:

alcohol abuse/dependence was the leading cause of hospitalisation followed by alcohol poisoning/aspiration
of alcohol poisoning hospitalisations, 15 percent were in the under 5 age group and 7.9 percent in the 5-14 age group
59 children under 5 years of age and 74 children aged 5-14 years were hospitalised for alcohol poisoning, the highest age specific rate.

A report on substance use also found that among those who drank alcohol in the past 12 months, 3.3 percent had alcohol abuse disorder and 1.6 percent had alcohol dependence disorder.

Substance use disorders

The 2006 New Zealand Mental Health Survey found that the lifetime prevalence of substance use disorder is 12.3 percent. Twelve-month prevalence is 3.5 percent and one-month prevalence is 1.5 percent. 40 percent of those with a 12 month substance use disorder also had a comorbid anxiety disorder (compared with 14.8 percent of the general population). Twenty-nine percent of those with a substance use disorder also had a comorbid mood disorder (compared with 7.9 percent of the general population). In another study it was found that substance use disorders were the third leading cause of hospitalisations for mental disorders among Mäori males (a rate of 81.7 per 100,000) between 2003 and 2005. Further, a New Zealand study of young people aged between 13 and 24 years who had made a serious suicide attempt found that 31 percent had a history of alcohol abuse or dependence (Beautris et al., 1996).

Alcohol-related injury

The World Health Organisation conducted a study across 12 countries including New Zealand, and found that the proportion of injury cases with alcohol involvement ranged from 6 to 45 percent. New Zealand’s alcohol-related injury rate was at the higher end of the range (i.e. 35 percent). For New Zealanders aged under 25 years, alcohol-related trauma is a leading cause of death. In 2000, it was estimated that alcohol contributed to the deaths of 212 young people aged 15–29 years.

In addition, 26 percent of injury hospitalisation costs in the 25 to 63 age group are as a result of falls. A recent falls study in the 25 to 60 age group completed by Auckland University found that just under half (45.8 percent) of participants in the study had consumed alcohol in the 24 hours preceding the fall.

Further, between 2002 and 2007 there were 708 drownings of which 140 (20 percent) were known to involve alcohol and/or drugs. In 2004-2006 alcohol was present in 30-70 percent of all recreational drownings. Alcohol is a factor in approximately 17 percent of all boating drownings. Further, in a 2000 study, it was found that 27 percent of boating deaths among 15-64 year olds (i.e. 12 of 44 recorded deaths) had a blood alcohol content (BAC) level over 80mg/100ml when breath tested (which is the legal limit for driving a car in New Zealand) and 43 percent had evidence of drinking (or a positive BAC).