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The Sheffield Addictions Research Group (SARG) has published new analysis estimating the substantial health and financial toll of alcohol consumption in Northern Ireland, using the most recent available post-pandemic data.

Commissioned by British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland, the analysis uses recent post-pandemic data on hospital admissions and mortality to estimate the full scope of alcohol-attributable harm.

The report, 'Estimating the burden of alcohol on the health of Northern Ireland', estimates that each year:

• 7,426 hospital admissions are caused directly by alcohol consumption.
• 676 people sadly lose their lives due to their drinking.
• The total cost of these inpatient admissions to the NHS is almost £19 million (£18,962,361).

Key findings by age, sex, and condition

The analysis provides a crucial breakdown of how this burden is distributed across the population, which is intended to support effective, targeted health interventions:

• Gender disparity: Men suffer the majority of the mortality impact, accounting for 69.7% of all alcohol-attributable deaths.
• Age profile (mortality): While 43.6% of all alcohol-attributable deaths occur in the over 65s, deaths that are alcohol-specific (caused entirely by alcohol, such as alcohol-related liver disease) are most concentrated in the 45-54 and 55-64 age groups.
• Cost drivers: Alcohol-specific causes (£8.3m) and alcohol-attributable cancers (£4.2m) are the largest financial contributors to the total cost to the NHS. Alcohol-attributable cancers account for nearly one in five (19.4%) of all attributable admissions.
• Admissions peak: The largest number of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions occurs in the 45-54 and 55-64 year-old cohorts.

The importance of detailed data for informing local health strategies

Report author, Professor Colin Angus, emphasised the importance of the detailed data to inform policy decisions:

"This analysis provides Northern Ireland with a current, robust evidence base on the full extent of alcohol's impact on health, including the significant impact on chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Our analysis shows that accounting for these, and other, conditions leads to an estimate of 676 deaths each year that are directly linked to alcohol, almost double the figure based on 'alcohol-specific' causes alone. These findings, and our analysis of which population groups are most impacted, helps to illustrate the value of effective alcohol policies that might reduce harmful drinking"

The report notes that these estimates, which reflect the costs of inpatient admissions only, are likely to be a conservative underestimate of the full financial burden of alcohol on the NHS.

To discuss the findings of the report in more detail, contact sarg@sheffield.ac.uk.

Download: Estimating the burden of alcohol on the health of Northern Ireland