Burden of diseases and injuries attributable to alcohol consumption in the Middle East and North Africa region, 1990–2019
Research article
Overview
In this study researchers aimed to assess the burden of diseases due to alcohol in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Previous research reported the burden of diseases due to alcohol and other drug use over the period 1990–2016, at the global, regional, and national levels, while a second study reported the deaths and DALYs attributable to alcohol consumption between 2000 and 20167. However, both of these studies used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2016 study, which is now out-of-date, and neither focused solely on the MENA region to investigate the alcohol-attributable burden of diseases.
This study used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study to report the numbers and age-standardised rate of deaths and DALYs for the diseases and injuries attributable to alcohol consumption by sex, age, underlying cause, and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), from 1990 to 2019.
The results show that in 2019, there were an estimated 22,000 deaths due to alcohol consumption in the MENA region, representing 0.7% of all deaths. 18,700 of the deaths were male, and 3,200 female.
The age-standardised death rate due to with alcohol consumption in 2019 was 34.5% lower than the 1990 level.
The proportion of deaths due to alcohol use varied by country.
The highest age-standardised death rates due to alcohol consumption were found in:
- Egypt (10.1 deaths/100,000),
- Palestine (8.6 deaths/100,000), and
- United Arab Emirates (8.4 deaths/100,000).
The lowest age-standardised death rates due to alcohol consumption were found in:
- Kuwait (1.1/100,000),
- Oman (2.3/100,000), and
- Jordan (2.3/100,000).
The researchers note that even if alcohol consumption is currently low by global standards in the MENA region, there are factors that may contribute to a larger alcohol burden in the future.
There are a number of factors which may increase the consumption of alcoholic drinks among these countries. For instance, by considering alcohol consumption to be a westernized, open-minded, and modern behavior, many young people in developing countries are attracted to drinking alcohol, with little knowledge about the likely health outcomes.”
Safiri, S., Nejadghaderi, S., Noori, M. et al. Burden of diseases and injuries attributable to alcohol consumption in the Middle East and North Africa region, 1990–2019. Sci Rep 12, 19301 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22901-x
Abstract
Alcohol consumption is associated with a number of diseases and injuries, including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, mental and neurological disorders, as well as transport-related injuries.
This article reports the alcohol-attributable burden of diseases and injuries at the regional and national levels in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region between 1990 and 2019, by sex, age, underlying cause, and Socio-demographic Index (SDI). The regional deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributable to alcohol consumption were reported for the MENA region, between 1990 and 2019, using the methodological framework and analytical strategies adopted by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019.
The estimates were all reported as counts, population-attributable fractions, and age-standardised rates per 100,000 population, along with their corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). Also, the average annual percentage changes were used to represent the trends of age-standardised rates.
In 2019, there were an estimated 22.0 thousand deaths and 1.1 million DALYs due to alcohol consumption in the MENA region.
The number of DALYs due to alcohol consumption were much higher in men than among women. The overall age-standardised death and DALY rates due to alcohol consumption decreased by 34.5% and 31.9%, respectively, over the study period.
Egypt (10.1) and Kuwait (1.1) had the highest and lowest age-standardised death rates attributable to alcohol consumption, respectively. In 2019, the number of deaths and DALYs in the MENA region were highest in those aged 60–64 and 50–54 years, respectively.
A negative association was observed between a country’s SDI and their corresponding age-standardised DALY rates over the period 1990 to 2019.
Digestive diseases were the main contributor to the alcohol-attributable burden.
Over 1990–2019, the regional deaths and DALYs of diseases and injuries due to alcohol consumption decreased with AAPC of − 1.45 and − 1.31, respectively. The death and DALY rates due to alcohol consumption in the MENA region have decreased over the past three decades. Further decreases can be facilitated by implementing country-level policies and increasing public awareness.