Friday, November 12, 2004

One in six youth deaths caused by alcohol: report

ALMOST one in six deaths amongst young Australians can be attributed to the irresponsible consumption of alcohol, research by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) has revealed.

In figures released today, the study shows that 2,643 people aged between 15 and 24 died from alcohol-attributable injury and disease between 1993 and 2002 around 15 per cent of all deaths in the age group.


Young people most at risk live in rural areas, and by region in either the Northern Territory or Western Australia.

The latest National Alcohol Indicators Bulletin, compiled by the Perth-based NDRI, also showed 22 per cent of injuries which lead to young people being hospitalised could also be traced back to risky drinking.

More than 100,000 youngsters were hospitalised for an alcohol related illness or injury between 1993 and 2002, the research found.

Tanya Chickarees, NDRI research fellow and alcohol policy team leader said a number of states and territories had shown an increase in alcohol-attributable deaths, following a period of national decline in the 1990s.

"There was a really encouraging decline in deaths and hospitalisations up until about 2000, but now we are just starting to see a reverse," Ms Chickarees said.

"A great amount of tax is generated from alcohol, but we are starting to think now that the costs are so high, attributable to alcohol, that what is made, the profit, is becoming less (important)."

Dr Chickarees said one of the most marked changes in recent years was the increase in drinking deaths and injury amongst young Australian women.

The institute believed this could be attributed to changes to tax on pre-mixed drinks in 2000.

"Pre-mixed drinks essentially became cheaper for young women than what used to be their preferred beverage, straight spirits or bottled wine," Ms Chickarees said.

"These pre-mixed beverages in my opinion are targeted at young people, and when this tax change happened, there was a massive increase in sales.

"Surveys around the country have been saying that young women are drinking more than they ever have, and we are now bearing our more evidence to support that."

Amongst other findings in the research were that a man was four times more likely to die from an alcohol-attributable death than a women, while the most common causes of alcohol-attributable death for young people were road injury, suicide and violence.

Young indigenous Australians are more than twice as likely as their non-indigenous counterparts to die from alcohol-attributable causes.

Death rates among indigenous youth have not improved in the last eight years, the study concluded.

The rate of alcohol-attributable death among young people who live in non-metropolitan areas is about 1.7 times greater than for their city dwelling counterparts.

The study showed the Northern Territory has the highest number of alcohol-attributable deaths among 15-24 year olds, with 4.0 deaths per 10,000, while WA had the second highest rate, 1.3 per 10,000.

The ACT, with 0.6 deaths per 10,000 had the lowest national rate.

The National Alcohol Indicators Bulletin was released ahead of next week's APSAD "Beyond the Drug" 2004 National Conference, being held in Fremantle, where national and international speakers will present research on drug and alcohol issues.

By Mad Broth 12 November 04

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