The total attributable burden of alcohol use was larger than previous evidence has indicated and increases monotonically with consumption. Based on weighted relative risk curves for each health outcome associated with alcohol use, the level of consumption that minimises health loss due to alcohol use is zero. These findings strongly suggest that alcohol control policies should aim to reduce total population-level consumption. To potentially reduce the effects of alcohol use on future health loss, there is a need for countries to revisit their alcohol control policies and assess how they can be modified to further lower population-level consumption…

Author

GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators*

Citation

Max G Griswold, et. al. Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016, The Lancet, Volume 392, Issue 10152, 2018, Pages 1015-1035, ISSN 0140-6736, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31310-2.


Source
The Lancet, Volume 392, Issue 10152, 22–28 September 2018, Pages 1015-1035
Release date
23/08/2018

Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators*

Summary

Background

Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for death and disability, but its overall association with health remains complex given the possible protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption on some conditions. With the researchers’ comprehensive approach to health accounting within the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016, they generated improved estimates of alcohol use and alcohol-attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life- years (DALYs) for 195 locations from 1990 to 2016, for both sexes and for 5-year age groups between the ages of 15 years and 95 years and older.

Methods

Using 694 data sources of individual and population-level alcohol consumption, along with 592 prospective and retrospective studies on the risk of alcohol use, the researchers produced estimates of the prevalence of current alcohol use, abstention, the distribution of alcohol consumption among current alcohol users in standard alcohol drinks daily (defined as 10 g of pure ethyl alcohol), and alcohol-attributable deaths and DALYs.

The researchers made several methodological improvements compared with previous estimates:

  1. They adjusted alcohol sales estimates to take into account tourist and unrecorded consumption;
  2. They did a new meta-analysis of relative risks for 23 health outcomes associated with alcohol use; and
  3. They developed a new method to quantify the level of alcohol consumption that minimises the overall risk to individual health.

Findings

Globally, alcohol use was the seventh leading risk factor for both deaths and DALYs in 2016, accounting for 2·2% of age-standardised female deaths and 6·8% of age- standardised male deaths.

Among the population aged 15–49 years, alcohol use was the leading risk factor globally in 2016, with 3·8% of female deaths and 12·2% of male deaths attributable to alcohol use. For the population aged 15–49 years, female attributable DALYs were 2·3% and male attributable DALYs were 8·9% (7·8–9·9). The three leading causes of attributable deaths in this age group were:

  1. tuberculosis (1·4% of total deaths),
  2. road injuries (1·2%), and
  3. self-harm (1·1%).

For populations aged 50 years and older, cancers accounted for a large proportion of total alcohol-attributable deaths in 2016, constituting 27·1% of total alcohol-attributable female deaths and 18·9% of male deaths. The level of alcohol consumption that minimised harm across health outcomes was zero standard alcohol drinks per week.

Interpretation

Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for global disease burden and causes substantial health loss. The researchers found that the risk of all-cause mortality, and of cancers specifically, rises with increasing levels of consumption, and the level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero. These results suggest that alcohol control policies might need to be revised worldwide, refocusing on efforts to lower overall population-level consumption.

Research in context

Evidence before this study

Although researchers recognise alcohol use as a leading risk factor for premature death and disability, some evidence suggests that low intake might have a protective effect on specific conditions such as ischaemic heart disease and diabetes. Monitoring of consumption behaviour is required to analyse the health effects of alcohol use. Historically, researchers have relied on self-reported survey data to estimate consumption levels and trends. However, these data have systematic biases that make cross-country comparisons unreliable.

The Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, as well as previous iterations of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, have sought to produce harmonised, cross-country comparisons of alcohol consumption and its harms, by leveraging data on alcohol sales, the prevalence of current drinking and abstention, and self-reports of consumption amounts.

Added value of this study

In this analysis the researchers improved available estimates of alcohol use and its associated health burden in five ways.

  1. The researchers consolidated 694 individual and population-level data sources to estimate alcohol consumption levels among current alcohol users.
  2. The researchers developed a method to adjust population-level consumption for alcohol consumed by tourists.
  3. The researchers improved pre-existing methods that account for unrecorded population-level consumption.
  4. The researchers did a new systematic review and meta-analysis of alcohol use and 23 associated health outcomes, which we used to estimate new dose–response curves of relative risk.
  5. Using the new relative risk curves and a new analytical method, the researchers estimated the exposure of alcohol consumption that minimises an individual’s total attributable risk.

Implications of all the available evidence

The total attributable burden of alcohol use was larger than previous evidence has indicated and increases monotonically with consumption.

Based on weighted relative risk curves for each health outcome associated with alcohol use, the level of consumption that minimises health loss due to alcohol use is zero.

These findings strongly suggest that alcohol control policies should aim to reduce total population-level consumption. To potentially reduce the effects of alcohol use on future health loss, there is a need for countries to revisit their alcohol control policies and assess how they can be modified to further lower population-level consumption.

*GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators

Max G Griswold,  Nancy Fullman,  Caitlin Hawley,  Nicholas Arian,  Stephanie R M Zimsen,  Hayley D Tymeson,  Vidhya Venkateswaran,  Austin Douglas Tapp,  Mohammad H Forouzanfar,  Joseph S Salama,  Kalkidan Hassen Abate,  Degu Abate,  Solomon M Abay,  Cristiana Abbafati,  Rizwan Suliankatchi, Abdulkader  Zegeye Abebe,  Victor Aboyans,  Mohammed Mehdi Abrar,  Pawan Acharya,  Olatunji O Adetokunboh,  Tara Ballav Adhikari,  Jose C Adsuar,  Mohsen Afarideh,  Emilie Elisabet Agardh,  Gina Agarwal,  Sargis Aghasi Aghayan,  Sutapa Agrawal,  Muktar Beshir Ahmed,  Mohammed Akibu,  Tomi Akinyemiju,  Nadia Akseer,  Deena H Al Asfoor,  Ziyad Al-Aly,  Fares Alahdab,  Khurshid Alam,  Ammar Albujeer,  Kefyalew Addis Alene  Raghib Ali  Syed Danish Ali  Mehran Alijanzadeh  Syed Mohamed Aljunid  Ala’a Alkerwi  Peter Allebeck  Nelson Alvis-Guzman  Azmeraw T Amare  Leopold N Aminde  Walid Ammar  Yaw Ampem Amoako  Gianna Gayle Herrera Amul  Catalina Liliana Andrei  Colin Angus  Mustafa Geleto Ansha  Carl Abelardo T Antonio  Olatunde Aremu  Johan Ärnlöv  Al Artaman  Krishna K Aryal  Reza Assadi  Marcel Ausloos  Leticia Avila-Burgos  Euripide F Avokpaho  Ashish Awasthi  Henok Tadesse Ayele  Rakesh Ayer  Tambe B Ayuk  Peter S Azzopardi  Hamid Badali  Alaa Badawi  Maciej Banach  Suzanne Lyn Barker-Collo  Lope H Barrero  Huda Basaleem  Estifanos Baye  Shahrzad Bazargan-Hejazi  Neeraj Bedi  Yannick Béjot  Abate Bekele Belachew  Saba Abraham Belay  Derrick A Bennett  Isabela M Bensenor  Eduardo Bernabe  Robert S Bernstein  Addisu Shunu Beyene  Tina Beyranvand  Soumyadeeep Bhaumik  Zulfiqar A Bhutta  Belete Biadgo  Ali Bijani  Nigus Bililign  Sait Mentes Birlik  Charles Birungi  Hailemichael Bizuneh  Peter Bjerregaard  Tone Bjørge  Guilherme Borges  Cristina Bosetti  Soufiane Boufous  Nicola Luigi Bragazzi  Hermann Brenner  Zahid A Butt  Lucero Cahuana-Hurtado  Bianca Calabria  Ismael R Campos-Nonato  Julio Cesar Campuzano  Giulia Carreras  Juan J Carrero  Félix Carvalho  Carlos A Castañeda-Orjuela  Jacqueline Castillo Rivas  Ferrán Catalá-López  Jung-Chen Chang  Fiona J Charlson  Aparajita Chattopadhyay  Pankaj Chaturvedi  Rajiv Chowdhury  Devasahayam J Christopher  Sheng-Chia Chung  Liliana G Ciobanu  Rafael M Claro  Sara Conti  Ewerton Cousin  Michael H Criqui  Berihun Assefa Dachew  Paul I Dargan  Ahmad Daryani  José Das Neves  Kairat Davletov  Filipa De Castro  Barbora De Courten  Jan-Walter De Neve  Louisa Degenhardt  Gebre Teklemariam Demoz  Don C Des Jarlais  Subhojit Dey  Rupinder Singh Dhaliwal  Samath Dhamminda Dharmaratne  Meghnath Dhimal  David Teye Doku  Kerrie E Doyle  Manisha Dubey  Eleonora Dubljanin  Bruce B Duncan  Hedyeh Ebrahimi  Dumessa Edessa  Maysaa El Sayed Zaki  Sergei Petrovich Ermakov  Holly E Erskine  Alireza Esteghamati  Mahbobeh Faramarzi  Andrea Farioli  Andre Faro  Maryam S Farvid  Farshad Farzadfar  Valery L Feigin  Mariana Santos Felisbino-Mendes  Eduarda Fernandes  Alize J Ferrari  Cleusa P Ferri  Daniel Obadare Fijabi  Irina Filip  Jonas David Finger  Florian Fischer  Abraham D Flaxman  Richard Charles Franklin  Neal D Futran  Silvano Gallus  Morsaleh Ganji  Fortune Gbetoho Gankpe  Gebremedhin Berhe Gebregergs  Tsegaye Tewelde Gebrehiwot  Johanna M Geleijnse  Reza Ghadimi  Lilian A Ghandour  Mamata Ghimire  Paramjit Singh Gill  Ibrahim Abdelmageed Ginawi  Ababi Zergaw Z Giref  Philimon N Gona  Sameer Vali Gopalani  Carolyn C Gotay  Alessandra C Goulart  Felix Greaves  Giuseppe Grosso  Yuming Guo  Rahul Gupta  Rajeev Gupta  Vipin Gupta  Reyna Alma Gutiérrez  Murthy GVS  Nima Hafezi-Nejad  Tekleberhan Beyene Hagos  Gessessew Bugssa Hailu  Randah R Hamadeh  Samer Hamidi  Graeme J Hankey  Hilda L Harb  Sivadasanpillai Harikrishnan  Josep Maria Haro  Hamid Yimam Hassen  Rasmus Havmoeller  Simon I Hay  Behzad Heibati  Andualem Henok  Ileana Heredia-Pi  Norberto Francisco Hernández-Llanes  Claudiu Herteliu  Desalegn Ts Tsegaw Hibstu  Praveen Hoogar  Nobuyuki Horita  H Dean Hosgood  Mostafa Hosseini  Mihaela Hostiuc  Guoqing Hu  Hsiang Huang  Abdullatif Husseini  Bulat Idrisov  Bogdan Vasile Ileanu  Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi  Seyed Sina Naghibi Irvani  Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam  Maria D Jackson  Mihajlo Jakovljevic  Moti Tolera Jalu  Achala Upendra Jayatilleke  Ravi Prakash Jha  Jost B Jonas  Jacek Jerzy Jozwiak  Zubair Kabir  Rajendra Kadel  Amaha Kahsay  Umesh Kapil  Amir Kasaeian  Tesfaye D Dessale Kassa  Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi  Norito Kawakami  Seifu Kebede  Adane Teshome Kefale  Peter Njenga Keiyoro  Andre Pascal Kengne  Yousef Khader  Morteza Abdullatif Khafaie  Ibrahim A Khalil  Md Nuruzzaman Khan  Young-Ho Khang  Mona M Khater  Jagdish Khubchandani  Cho-Il Kim  Daniel Kim  Yun Jin Kim  Ruth W Kimokoti  Adnan Kisa  Mika Kivimäki  Sonali Kochhar  Soewarta Kosen  Parvaiz A Koul  Ai Koyanagi  Kewal Krishan  Barthelemy Kuate Defo  Burcu Kucuk Bicer  Veena S Kulkarni  Pushpendra Kumar  Alessandra Lafranconi  Arjun Lakshmana Balaji  Ratilal Lalloo  Tea Lallukka  Hilton Lam  Faris Hasan Lami  Qing Lan  Justin J Lang  Sonia Lansky  Anders O Larsson  Arman Latifi  Janet L Leasher  Paul H Lee  James Leigh  Mall Leinsalu  Janni Leung  Miriam Levi  Yichong Li  Lee-Ling Lim  Shai Linn  Shiwei Liu  Andrea Lobato-Cordero  Alan D Lopez  Paulo A Lotufo  Erlyn Rachelle King Macarayan  Isis Eloah Machado  Fabiana Madotto  Hassan Magdy Abd El Razek  Muhammed Magdy Abd El Razek  Marek Majdan  Reza Majdzadeh  Azeem Majeed  Reza Malekzadeh  Deborah Carvalho Malta  Chabila Christopher Mapoma  Jose Martinez-Raga  Pallab K Maulik  Mohsen Mazidi  Martin Mckee  Varshil Mehta  Toni Meier  Tesfa Mekonen  Kidanu Gebremariam Meles  Addisu Melese  Peter T N Memiah  Walter Mendoza  Desalegn Tadese Mengistu  George A Mensah  Tuomo J Meretoja  Haftay Berhane Mezgebe  Tomasz Miazgowski  Ted R Miller  Gk Mini  Andreea Mirica  Erkin M Mirrakhimov  Babak Moazen  Karzan Abdulmuhsin Mohammad  Noushin Mohammadifard  Shafiu Mohammed  Lorenzo Monasta  Paula Moraga  Lidia Morawska  Seyyed Meysam Mousavi  Satinath Mukhopadhyay  Kamarul Imran Musa  Aliya Naheed  Gurudatta Naik  Farid Najafi  Vinay Nangia  Jobert Richie Nansseu  Mudavath Siva Durga Prasad Nayak  Chakib Nejjari  Subas Neupane  Sudan Prasad Neupane  Josephine W Ngunjiri  Cuong Tat Nguyen  Long Hoang Nguyen  Trang Huyen Nguyen  Dina Nur Anggraini Ningrum  Yirga Legesse Nirayo  Jean Jacques Noubiap  Richard Ofori-Asenso  Felix Akpojene Ogbo  In-Hwan Oh  Olanrewaju Oladimeji  Andrew T Olagunju  Pedro R Olivares  Bolajoko Olubukunola Olusanya  Jacob Olusegun Olusanya  Anu Mary Oommen  Eyal Oren  Heather M Orpana  Doris D V Ortega-Altamirano  Justin R Ortiz  Erika Ota  Mayowa Ojo Owolabi  Abayomi Samuel Oyekale  Mahesh P A  Adrian Pana  Eun-Kee Park  Charles D H Parry  Hadi Parsian  Ajay Patle  George C Patton  Deepak Paudel  Max Petzold  Michael R Phillips  Julian David Pillay  Maarten J Postma  Farshad Pourmalek  Dorairaj Prabhakaran  Mostafa Qorbani  Amir Radfar  Anwar Rafay  Alireza Rafiei  Fakher Rahim  Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar  Mahfuzar Rahman  Muhammad Aziz Rahman  Rajesh Kumar Rai  Sasa Rajsic  Sree Bhushan Raju  Usha Ram  Saleem M Rana  Chhabi Lal Ranabhat  David Laith Rawaf  Salman Rawaf  Robert C Reiner  Cesar Reis  Andre M N Renzaho  Mohammad Sadegh Rezai  Leonardo Roever  Luca Ronfani  Robin Room  Gholamreza Roshandel  Ali Rostami  Gregory A Roth  Ambuj Roy  Yogesh Damodar Sabde  Basema Saddik  Saeid Safiri  Amirhossein Sahebkar  Joseph S Salama  Zikria Saleem  Joshua A Salomon  Sundeep Santosh Salvi  Juan Sanabria  Maria Dolores Sanchez-Niño  Damian Francesco Santomauro  Itamar S Santos  Milena M M Santric Milicevic  Abdur Razzaque Sarker  Rodrigo Sarmiento-Suárez  Nizal Sarrafzadegan  Benn Sartorius  Maheswar Satpathy  Monika Sawhney  Sonia Saxena  Mete Saylan  Michael P Schaub  Maria Inês Schmidt  Ione J C Schneider  Ben Schöttker  Aletta Elisabeth Schutte  Falk Schwendicke  Sadaf G Sepanlou  Masood Ali Shaikh  Mehdi Sharif  Jun She  Aziz Sheikh  Jiabin Shen  Mekonnen Sisay Shiferaw  Mika Shigematsu  Rahman Shiri  Kawkab Shishani  Ivy Shiue  Sharvari Rahul Shukla  Inga Dora Sigfusdottir  Diego Augusto Santos Silva  Natacha Torres Da Silva  Dayane Gabriele Alves Silveira  Dhirendra Narain Sinha  Freddy Sitas  Adauto Martins Soares Filho  Moslem Soofi  Reed J D Sorensen  Joan B Soriano  Chandrashekhar T Sreeramareddy  Nadine Steckling  Dan J Stein  Mu’awiyyah Babale Sufiyan  Patrick J Sur  Bryan L Sykes  Rafael Tabarés-Seisdedos  Takahiro Tabuchi  Mohammad Tavakkoli  Arash Tehrani-Banihashemi  Merhawi Gebremedhin Tekle  Subash Thapa  Nihal Thomas  Roman Topor-Madry  Fotis Topouzis  Bach Xuan Tran  Christopher E Troeger  Thomas Clement Truelsen  Nikolaos Tsilimparis  Stefanos Tyrovolas  Kingsley Nnanna Ukwaja  Irfan Ullah  Olalekan A Uthman  Pascual R Valdez  Job F M Van Boven  Tommi Juhani Vasankari  Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian  Francesco S Violante  Sergey Konstantinovitch Vladimirov  Vasily Vlassov  Stein Emil Vollset  Theo Vos  Fasil Wagnew Shiferaw Wagnew  Yasir Waheed  Yuan-Pang Wang  Elisabete Weiderpass  Fitsum Weldegebreal  Kidu Gidey Weldegwergs  Andrea Werdecker  Ronny Westerman  Harvey A Whiteford  Justyna Widecka  Tissa Wijeratne  Grant M A Wyper  Gelin Xu  Tomohide Yamada  Yuichiro Yano  Pengpeng Ye  Ebrahim M Yimer  Paul Yip  Biruck Desalegn Yirsaw  Engida Yisma  Naohiro Yonemoto  Seok-Jun Yoon  Marcel Yotebieng  Mustafa Z Younis  Geevar Zachariah  Zoubida Zaidi  Mohammad Zamani  Xueying Zhang  Sanjay Zodpey  Ali H Mokdad  Mohsen Naghavi  Christopher J L Murray  Emmanuela Gakidou

Funding

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


Source Website: The Lancet