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Alcohol-attributable and alcohol-preventable mortality in Denmark: an analysis of which intake levels contribute most to alcohol’s harmful and beneficial effects

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Abstract

The aim of the study was to quantify alcohol-attributable and -preventable mortality, totally and stratified on alcohol consumption in Denmark 2010, and to estimate alcohol-related mortality assuming different scenarios of changes in alcohol distribution in the population. We estimated alcohol-attributable and -preventable fractions based on relative risks of conditions causally associated with alcohol from meta-analyses and information on alcohol consumption in Denmark obtained from 14,458 participants in the Danish National Health Survey 2010 and corrected for adult per capita consumption. Cause-specific mortality data were obtained from the Danish Register of Causes of Death. In total, 1,373 deaths among women (5.0 % of all deaths) and 2,522 deaths among men (9.5 % of all deaths) were attributable to alcohol, while an estimated number of 765 (2.8 %) and 583 (2.2 %) deaths were prevented by alcohol. Of the alcohol-attributable deaths, 73 and 81 % occurred within the high alcohol consumption group (>14/21 drinks/week for women/men). A reduction of 50 % in the alcohol consumption was associated with a decrease of 1,406 partly alcohol-attributable deaths (46 %) and 37 alcohol-preventable deaths (3 %). Total compliance with sensible drinking guidelines with a low risk limit (<7/14 drinks/week) and a high risk limit (<14/21 drinks/week) was associated with a reduction of 2,380 and 1,977 alcohol-attributable deaths, respectively. In summary, 5.0 % of deaths among women and 9.5 % of deaths among men were attributable to alcohol in Denmark 2010. The minority of Danish women and men had high alcohol consumption (16 and 26 %). However, the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths among women and men were caused by high consumption (73 and 81 %).

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Acknowledgments

The authors like to thank the National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark for financing this work. We also like to thank Professor Dr. Jürgen Rehm, Dr. Kevin D. Shield, Professor Dr. Carlo La Vecchia, Irene Tramacere, and Federica Turati for providing us with information on relative risk functions for several of the alcohol-related diseases. This work was supported by the National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark.

Ethical standard

The study did not require any ethical approval. All participants in the Danish National Health Survey gave informed consent before taking part in the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5A, 2nd Floor, 1353, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Marie Eliasen, Ulrik Becker, Morten Grønbæk, Knud Juel & Janne Schurmann Tolstrup

  2. Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Kettegårds Allé 30, 2650, Hvidovre, Denmark

    Ulrik Becker

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  1. Marie Eliasen
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Correspondence to Janne Schurmann Tolstrup.

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Eliasen, M., Becker, U., Grønbæk, M. et al. Alcohol-attributable and alcohol-preventable mortality in Denmark: an analysis of which intake levels contribute most to alcohol’s harmful and beneficial effects. Eur J Epidemiol 29, 15–26 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-013-9855-2

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