Reduction in deaths linked to boozing First fatalities fall in 6yrs 6.3% dip on 2017’s figure

Alcohol-related deaths have fallen for the first time since 2013, figures showed yesterday.

But last year the number of people whose deaths were linked to booze was still the third highest on record.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency show 284 of the 15,922 deaths registered “were due to alcohol-specific causes”.

This, it says, is 16.9% more than was recorded a decade previously (243) but 6.3% lower than the 2017 total of 303 – the highest on record. Alcohol-specific deaths continue to account for less than 2% of all fatalities registered each year.

The figures also show around two thirds of Northern Ireland “alcohol-specific deaths each year relate to males.

In 2018, 196 (69.0%) alcoholspecific fatalities were males and 88 (31.0%) were females.

The Public Health Agency’s drugs and alcohol spokesman Michael Owen said: “Alcohol plays a part in many people’s lives and one of the most important things is that many people don’t realise it is a powerful drug.

“Whether it’s having a glass of wine with dinner, a beer after work, or a drink at weddings, funerals and many other social and cultural events, alcohol makes an appearance in so many parts of our lives and society it can be easy to forget that, like many drugs, it can be addictive, physically and psychologically.

“We need to be careful how we use alcohol as drinking too much can seriously affect our health. “The long-term effects including a higher risk of high blood pressure, stroke, liver disease, and multiple types of cancer, as well as having an impact on mental health and wellbeing.

“It is therefore important people start to understand their drinking behaviour and explore their relationship with alcohol, whether it’s a positive or negative one.

“The start of this process is knowing more about units of alcohol, how to calculate intake and how to stay in the weekly limit. “More about this can be found at www.pha.site/focus-alcohol.

“The Chief Medical Officers’ alcohol guidelines recommend both men and women should drink no more than 14 units per week.

“If you do drink as much as 14 units per week, spread this evenly over three days or more. You can’t ‘save up’ units. “Some people are likely to be affected more by alcohol and should be more careful of their level of drinking; this includes young adults, older people, those with low body weight, those with other health problems and those on medicines.”