title: Alcohol-attributable and alcohol-preventable mortality in Denmark: an analysis of which intake levels contribute most to alcohol's harmful and beneficial effects.
abstract: The aim of the study was to quantify alcohol-attributable and -preventable mortality, totally and stratified on alcohol consumption in Denmark 2010, and to estimate alcohol-related mortality assuming different scenarios of changes in alcohol distribution in the population. We estimated alcohol-attributable and -preventable fractions based on relative risks of conditions causally associated with alcohol from meta-analyses and information on alcohol consumption in Denmark obtained from 14,458 participants in the Danish National Health Survey 2010 and corrected for adult per capita consumption. Cause-specific mortality data were obtained from the Danish Register of Causes of Death. In total, 1,373 deaths among women (5.0% of all deaths) and 2,522 deaths among men (9.5% of all deaths) were attributable to alcohol, while an estimated number of 765 (2.8%) and 583 (2.2%) deaths were prevented by alcohol. Of the alcohol-attributable deaths, 73 and 81% occurred within the high alcohol consumption group (>14/21 drinks/week for women/men). A reduction of 50% in the alcohol consumption was associated with a decrease of 1,406 partly alcohol-attributable deaths (46%) and 37 alcohol-preventable deaths (3%). Total compliance with sensible drinking guidelines with a low risk limit (<7/14 drinks/week) and a high risk limit (<14/21 drinks/week) was associated with a reduction of 2,380 and 1,977 alcohol-attributable deaths, respectively. In summary, 5.0% of deaths among women and 9.5 % of deaths among men were attributable to alcohol in Denmark 2010. The minority of Danish women and men had high alcohol consumption (16 and 26%). However, the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths among women and men were caused by high consumption (73 and 81%).
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5A, 2nd Floor, 1353, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eliasen
authors.forename: Ulrik
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grønbæk
authors.forename: Knud
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Juel
authors.forename: Janne Schurmann
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tolstrup
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult