Alcohol-related deaths rise by one third from 2000

Liver ailments nearly double

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Nearly six Finns a day are dying of alcohol-related causes.
      The number of alcohol-related deaths is more than one third more than at the beginning of the decade, according to fresh figures from Statistics Finland. The proportion of women among the fatalities has increased most; the number of women dying of alcohol-related diseases and alcohol poisoning was 50 per cent higher last year than in 2000.
     
An even greater increase has taken place in alcohol-related liver diseases, which killed 562 people in 2000 and 998 last year. Deaths among men increased by 67 per cent, and among women the rise was 67 per cent.
      "The deaths are the tip of the iceberg. Before death a large number of people are seriously ill", notes Pekka Puska, director of the Public Health Institute.. The institute has named alcohol as the biggest health hazard facing the Finns.
      Liver transplants are not available for those with liver ailments caused by alcohol who are still drinking.
      "The European practice is that new livers are not transplanted unless the drinking stops", says Professor Krister Häckerstedt of the Helsinki University Central Hospital. "The criteria are clear, and the same for everyone."
     
Puska says that the harm caused by alcohol is visible because high-risk drinking grows more quickly than average consumption.
      This means that people have grown a tolerance to larger amounts of alcohol. Recently a question was put to a newspaper advice column, asking if it is a large amount if five young people consume eight bottles of wine and 12 bottles of beer in one evening.
      It is indeed a very large amount. A safe amount for women is an average one drink or bottle of beer a day, and for men, the save level is two on average. The risk level for consumption at one time is seven drinks for men and five for women. Such a level is achieved at a fancy dinner where different drinks are offered with each course.
     
New records in consumption were set in August, when the most recent statistics came out. In January through August 3.6 per cent more alcohol was bought than last year.
      Average consumption has surpassed that of the wine-drinking countries of Southern Europe, and is coming close to that of Germany. This is a possible explanation for the prevalence of alcohol-related liver disease in Finland.
      OECD figures released in July showed that only South Korea and Hungary have higher rates of alcohol-related liver diseases than Finland. The traditional wine and beer countries are falling far behind.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  6,000 alcohol-related deaths in Finland in 2005 (31.8.2007)
  Alcohol abuse most common killer of working-age Finnish men (1.11.2006)
  Calls in Parliament for higher alcohol tax hikes (18.10.2007)
  Sales of alcohol reach new record (11.10.2007)

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