Cigs and booze cost us 44,000 YEARS of life

SHOCK FIGURES BY HEALTH BOSSES ANALYSE DEATH OF UNDER 75S

SMOKING and drinking is cutting more than 40,000 years from the lives of people in Greater Manchester.

The figures, published by Public Health England, have been calculated based on the number of deaths of people under 75 due to smokingand alcohol-related illnesses.

They show that, each year, people in Greater Manchester collectively lose 44,400 years of extra life they might have had if they didn’t smoke or drink.

The data shows people in the area are losing more of their lives to smoking and drinking than those elsewhere in the country.

The average person in Tameside or Oldham is potentially losing 3.5 days of life to drinking – while in Salford, it is 3.4 days, in Manchester 3.5 days and in Trafford, the lowest, 2.4 days. For England as a whole, the figure is 2.3 days lost to drinking per person.

Where smoking is concerned, the average person in Manchester is losing the equivalent of 10.6 days of life, compared to 8.6 days in Rochdale, 8.0 days in Salford, 4.4 days in Trafford – and 5.0 days for England as a whole.

The figures are based on agestandardised rates – for 2017 in the case of drinking, and the average of 2015-17 in the case of smoking.

As not everyone smokes or drinks excessively, those who do are at a higher risk of dying young.

The actual number of years lost due to smoking and drinking may be even higher, as 75 is used as the cut off for what is deemed an ‘early’ or ‘premature’ death but life expectancy in England is actually 4.5 years higher for men and about eight years higher for women, meaning those who die after 75 could also be missing out on extra years due to their lifestyle.

Deaths from alcohol misuse are estimated to cost the NHS about £3.5 billion per year.

Smoking remains the biggest single cause of preventable deaths in the world, accounting for one in six deaths in England.