Alcohol-Related Deaths and the Burden of Disease

In 2017, alcohol use attributed to 5,552 deaths in Australia, comprising 1,366 alcohol-induced deaths and 4,186 deaths mentioning alcohol. Unlike the decline of per-capita alcohol use, alcohol-related deaths in 2017 reached its highest number in 20 years (5.1 deaths per 100,000). Similar to global estimates, the burden of alcohol-attributable deaths is distributed unevenly across the population; men are over-represented in mortality and morbidity and are 3.5 times more likely to die. However, alcohol-related harms increase for women as they age, and alcohol-attributable deaths, predominantly cancers in those aged 50 years or older, are higher in women (27.1%) than in men (18.9%). 

In Australia, alcohol contributed to 4.6% of the burden of disease in 2011, with alcohol-related injuries, cancers, and liver diseases responsible for most of the alcohol-related disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Despite the downward trend of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related deaths and DALYs did not see a similar downward trend.