Alcohol as a certified cause of death in a 'middle England' population 1979-1999: database study.
The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England, recently published, highlights current concerns about alcohol consumption in this country. We used a database to examine trends in mortality for all deaths certified as effects of alcohol from 1979-1999, including mentions as well as underlying cause, in a relatively prosperous population in southern England. Mortality, certified as direct effects of alcohol, tripled during the 21 years of study; and mortality rates based on mentions were about double those based on underlying cause. The increase in recent years in mortality based on mentions was considerably greater than that based on underlying cause. Data on age, sex and occupational social class show that people whose alcohol intake kills them are from a broad cross-section of society.
Goldacre
Michael J
MJ
Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Oxford OX3 7LF. michael.goldacre@dphpc.ox.ac.uk
Duncan
Marie
M
Griffith
Myfanwy
M
Cook-Mozaffari
Paula
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003644:Death Certificates; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D040442:Public Health Informatics; D013222:State Medicine