Alcohol and health in Wales (2014)

Key Messages

Alcohol use and its consequences remain a major public health challenge in Wales, the UK and elsewhere. The harmful use of alcohol ranks among the top five risk factors for disease, disability and death throughout the world.

The Public Health Wales Observatory has published Alcohol and health in Wales 2014, updating and extending the previous report released 5 years ago. These are some of the key messages:

• Alcohol is a major cause of death and illness in Wales with around 1,500 deaths attributable to alcohol each year (1 in 20 of all deaths).

• Drinking in children and young people remains a particular concern with 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 7 girls aged 11-16 drinking alcohol at least once a week. Around 400 young people under 18 are admitted for alcohol-specific conditions per year, although the rate has been decreasing for several years.

• Generally, consumption of alcohol has slightly decreased and adults under 45 now drink less. Whilst this decrease is good news, it masks persistent or increased drinking in over 45 year olds.

• Mortality and hospital admission due to alcohol are strongly related to deprivation with rates in the most deprived areas much higher than in the least deprived. There is no sign of improvement in the inequality gap in mortality over time.

The new release contains the comprehensive main Wales profile, seven health board summary documents, data files and a technical guide, all available on the explore data section. Information on key data sources and evidence including a live evidence search facility is provided under access the data section.

Access The Data

Other Public Health Wales Observatory publications

Public Health Outcomes Framework reporting tool (2019)
Use this interactive tool to understand the impact our individual behaviours, public services, programmes and policies are having on health and well-being in Wales.

Health and its determinants in Wales (2018)
The report outlines the picture of health in Wales through 100, mainly graphical, slides. Demography, causes of death and disability, alongside their risk factors, are explored.

Health and its determinants in Wales - interim report (2017)

The report outlines the picture of health in Wales through 100, mainly graphical, slides. Demography, causes of death and disability, alongside their risk factors, are explored.

General Practice Population Profiles (2016)

Explore levels of lifestyle and social factors, chronic conditions and demographic changes within and between Welsh general practice populations, including peer group comparisons.

Measuring inequalities (2016)

This publication demonstrates the large and persistent inequalities in life expectancy within Wales, echoing the findings of the original "Measuring inequalities" profile published in 2011.

Our Healthy Future Indicators (2015)

This interactive tool shows information for key public health indicators at health board and local authority level. The topics covered include smoking, obesity, alcohol, teenage pregnancy, healthy eating and health inequalities. Updates the original Our Healthy Future Indicators (2013).

Welsh Health Survey lifestyle trends (2015)

This interactive tool presents health and health-related lifestyle indicators on a trend chart at health board and local authority area level alongside comparative information for Wales for males, females and persons.

Our Healthy Future Indicators (2013)

This publication contains interim data and documents on the chosen indicators for the ten Our Healthy Future (OHF) priority outcomes. This includes alcohol-specific hospital admissions but these use the previous method. The data is therefore not comparable with the latest release.

Measuring inequalities -Trends in mortality and life expectancy in Wales (2011)  - now superseded

The work examines the gap in life expectancy and mortality measures between the most and least deprived in Wales. It also included a section on socio-economic pattern of alcohol consumption and mortality, and data for alcohol-specific and alcohol-attributable mortality by health board. This uses the previous method and is therefore not comparable with the latest release.

Profiles of Lifestyle and Health (2010)

A series of reports and supporting documents with data and information on health-related behaviours and their impact on health in Wales. The profile draws together data from a number of different sources including drinking above guidelines, alcohol-attributable mortality and hospital admissions. These use the previous method and the data is not comparable to the latest release.

 

Additional resources 

This page contains links to key data and evidence resources relevant to alcohol.

 

Key data sources

Health Maps Wales

Health Maps Wales is an interactive tool that can be used to explore a variety of health indicators grouped under broad categories including substance misuse. It includes alcohol-specific and alcohol-attributable hospital admissions as well as alcohol-related mortality. These use the previous method and are not comparable to the latest release and are planned to be updated on Health Maps Wales soon.

Welsh Health Survey

The Welsh Health Survey includes self-reported information about health-related lifestyle of people living in Wales. The survey information is available at the local authority level.  Results for children are reported at the all-Wales level. The survey routinely reports on the percentage of adults who drink above guidelines and who binge drink, at an all-Wales and local authority level.

StatsWales: referrals for substance misuse

StatsWales is a data web resource provided by the Welsh Government. It contains referrals for substance misuse including alcohol broken down by substance and age group, source of referrals and estimated incidence rates by region.

Health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) survey

A cross-national research study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. The study aims to gain new insight into young people's health behaviours. The HBSC survey reports data at a national (Wales) level and is reproduced by Welsh Government at health board level.

Public Health England: Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE)

These profiles provide key data on alcohol for England using the methods revised in 2014. Many of the indicators for England have been produced using the same method with comparable Wales data in the updated Wales profile (see file download page).

WHO: Global status report on alcohol and health 2014

This report provides key data on alcohol for member states around the world including country profiles. The data was used in the Wales profile for a comparison of alcohol consumption in the UK to Western countries.

 

Key evidence sources

Alcohol RSS feed 

A selective list of additional data and evidence resources for this topic.

WHO: alcohol topic and Global status report on alcohol and health 2014

The WHO health topics section for alcohol includes general information on alcohol as well as a link to the Global status report on alcohol and health 2014. This report provides comprehensive international perspective of alcohol use, health consequences and policy responses of member states around the world.

NHS choices: Drinking and alcohol web pages

These web pages provide information and advice on alcohol use including an alcohol unit calculator.