Mongan, Deirdre (2008) Alcohol-related harm in Ireland. Drugnet Ireland, Issue 26, Summer 2008, pp. 9-10.
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) recently published Alcohol-related harm in Ireland, by Dr Ann Hope.1 The report provides an overview of more than 30 recent studies and outlines the rising trends in alcohol consumption rates, and the harmful effects on the user and on other people. It looks at 60 factors relating to problem alcohol use, including health, workplace absences, pregnancy, domestic abuse, public order offences and road crashes.
- 28% of all injury attendances in Accident and Emergency departments in acute hospitals were related to alcohol.
- Alcohol-related hospital discharges increased by 92% between 1995 and 2002.
- Incidence rates for cancer of the liver had the highest increase of all cancer rates between 1994 and 2003.
- The number of new alcohol-related cancers will more than double for females and increase by 81% for males in the period 2005 to 2020.
- Alcohol affects an adolescent brain differently from an adult brain and damage from alcohol use during adolescence can be long term and irreversible.
- Almost half of men and over a quarter of women agreed that drinking alcohol had contributed to their having had sex without contraception.
- Between 1995 and 2004, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) increased by 217%.
- Alcohol was a contributory factor in 36.5% of all fatal crashes in 2003.
- Between 1996 and 2002, public order offences by adults increased by 247% (from 16,284 to 56,822); they decreased in 2003 and 2004 but increased again in 2005.
- Almost half (46%) of those who committed homicide were intoxicated at the time.
- Between 1990 and 2006, 2,462 people were killed on the roads between 9 pm and 4 am, the time most associated with alcohol-related accidents.
- In a general population survey, 44% of all respondents had experienced harm caused by their own or someone else's alcohol use.
- A study of college students found that almost two-thirds of male and over half of female students reported that they had experienced at least one incident of harm as a consequence of someone else's alcohol use.
- In a quarter of severe domestic abuse cases, alcohol was involved.
- The Coombe Women's Hospital found that 63% of women reported alcohol use during pregnancy, with 7% drinking six or more drinks per week.
- A survey of employers found that alcohol-related illness was cited by 12% of companies as a cause of short-term absence from work by males, and by 4% of companies as a cause of absence by females.
- Effective policy – a set of integrated policies, based on effectiveness and cost effectiveness in reducing alcohol-related harm
- National structure – an agency or body taking responsibility for alcohol policy implementation, such as happens with drugs and tobacco
- Quality data systems – effective monitoring of alcohol-related harm needs quality data gathering across a range of alcohol-harm indicators, and many gaps still exist.
The report concludes that alcohol-related harm is complex and multifaceted and will not be reduced unless action is taken. The dramatic increase in alcohol-related harm does not bode well for the future health and well-being of the population in Ireland. Ireland is moving in the wrong direction, alcohol harm must be significantly reduced. Delaying the necessary action increases the growing burden of harm for everyone in society.
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