ONS' Over 55s account for highest portion of alcohol-related deaths
30/01/2012
Topic: Insurance & protection
Alcohol-related deaths are most prevalent among people approaching retirement as those between the ages of 55 to 74 suffer the highest proportion of fatalities in this area, recent figures revealed.
While the number of Britons who died from alcohol-related illnesses increased by 126 in 2010 to reach 8,790 compared to the previous year, men over 55 accounted for a death rate of 45.2 per 100,000, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
Women in the same age category made up a death rate of 19.9 per 100,000 in 2010, with alcohol-related deaths for both genders in the older age range starkly higher than the under 35s.
In 2010, males and females aged between 15 and 34 contributed to a death rate of 2.7 and 1.5 per 100,000 respectively.
A statement from the ONS suggested there was little explanation for why the death rate among the over 55s had continued to rise.
It said: “This rise indicates a return to the long-term trend of increasing death rate for this age-group but there is no clear reason for this.
“No statistically significant change in rate was observed for males or females in any other age-group.”
With the overall rise in alcohol-related deaths occurring primarily in men, Public Health Minister Anne Milton suggested more would be done to combat the problem.
She said: “We will set out a new approach to tackling alcohol harm shortly in our alcohol strategy for England.
“As part of that, we will be giving local councils the power and the budget to help them tackle the huge variations we see in levels of harm in different regions of England.”
The government is launching a new Change4Life campaign next month, which is set to draw Brits’ attention to the dangers of over-drinking.
Regionally in England, those in the north east accounted for the highest proportion of fatalities related to alcohol, while the east of the country recorded the lowest rate.
Posted by David Shuker
While the number of Britons who died from alcohol-related illnesses increased by 126 in 2010 to reach 8,790 compared to the previous year, men over 55 accounted for a death rate of 45.2 per 100,000, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
Women in the same age category made up a death rate of 19.9 per 100,000 in 2010, with alcohol-related deaths for both genders in the older age range starkly higher than the under 35s.
In 2010, males and females aged between 15 and 34 contributed to a death rate of 2.7 and 1.5 per 100,000 respectively.
A statement from the ONS suggested there was little explanation for why the death rate among the over 55s had continued to rise.
It said: “This rise indicates a return to the long-term trend of increasing death rate for this age-group but there is no clear reason for this.
“No statistically significant change in rate was observed for males or females in any other age-group.”
With the overall rise in alcohol-related deaths occurring primarily in men, Public Health Minister Anne Milton suggested more would be done to combat the problem.
She said: “We will set out a new approach to tackling alcohol harm shortly in our alcohol strategy for England.
“As part of that, we will be giving local councils the power and the budget to help them tackle the huge variations we see in levels of harm in different regions of England.”
The government is launching a new Change4Life campaign next month, which is set to draw Brits’ attention to the dangers of over-drinking.
Regionally in England, those in the north east accounted for the highest proportion of fatalities related to alcohol, while the east of the country recorded the lowest rate.
Posted by David Shuker
© 2010 Adfero Ltd. All rights reserved. Any views and opinions expressed in news articles are not those of Prudential. News supplied by Adfero DirectNews
Read About Prudential's Insurance & Protection products
