CMO report on alcohol and the public health published

The Association of Public Health Observatories has produced the eighth in a series of national reports for the Chief Medical Officer, on alcohol.  Indications of Public Health in the English Regions 8: Alcohol key findings:

1. There are very evident variations between regions across nearly all indicators, with life lost, rates of mortality, admission to hospital, incapacity due to alcoholism, visits to a pub/bar and binge, hazardous and harmful drinking all showing much higher levels in the more deprived regions of England compared to the more affluent regions.
2. For some indicators, the gap between regions is widening, thereby increasing health inequalities related to alcohol use.
3. There are massive differences in the health consequences of alcohol use between richer and poorer local communities across all regions of England.
4. A more detailed look at inequalities between different communities has been undertaken by comparing alcohol-related measures across different lifestyle groups. These use geography and behavioural information to classify people by where and how they live and reveal remarkable differences between the rich and the poor whilst also highlighting particular communities  that have additional alcohol issues.
5. Life lost from mortality due to alcohol is increasing.
6. The regional pattern in mortality and hospital admission due to alcohol are paralleled by patterns of excessive alcohol consumption.
7. In all regions, people are now more likely to believe alcohol is a cause of crime. In the most recent surveys in England (2004/05-2005/06), 48% of people believed alcohol to be a major cause of crime compared with 36% two years earlier and 5.7% thought alcohol was the main cause of crime compared with only 3.7% two years earlier.
8. The potential effect of alcohol on regional economies follows the general pattern of worklessness across England, with the proportion of the working population claiming incapacity benefits due to alcoholism being three times higher in the North West than in the East of England. The North East has the second highest rate. However, the percentage of all claims that are due to alcoholism is highest in London, the South East, the South West and the North West.
9. With regard to personal economics, people living in northern regions purchase the greatest amounts of alcohol per week, as a proportion of total expenditure on both household foods and eating out, and central regions purchase the smallest amounts. When eating out, people living in the north of England spend a higher proportion of their meal costs on alcohol (36-38% of spend) than people in the south (28-29% of spend).
10. Although decreasing slightly in recent years, a greater proportion of the adult population regularly visits a pub or bar in the north of England than in the south. This in itself might not be a detrimental behaviour if it were linked with positive social interactions akin to the ‘Pub is the Hub’ initiative. However, as highlighted in this report, regular visits to a pub or bar (and similarly to a nightclub or disco) actually show the same regional divide as excessive alcohol consumption and its related harms. Thus, a great deal more work would be required to elicit the positive benefits of social interaction and community wellbeing from the northern binge drinking culture.