Alcohol-Related Death Rates in Lancashire Districts
July 2007
Local Authority Alcohol Profiles for 2007
Profiles of alcohol-related harm for every local authority in England have been published by the Liverpool John Moores University's Centre for Public Health and the North West Public Health Observatory.
The profiles combine eight different measures and are split by gender. They consider alcohol-related mortality, hospital admissions, crime, accidents and binge drinking for the 354 local authorities in England.
Go to the Local Alcohol Profiles for the North West and choose a local authority.
The following article is based on information released via the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website and details alcohol-related deaths by gender and place of residence for Lancashire districts.
The ONS definition of alcohol-related deaths only includes those causes regarded as being most directly due to alcohol consumption. Apart from deaths due to accidental poisoning with alcohol, this definition excludes external causes of death, such as road traffic deaths and other accidents, and alcohol-related suicides and homicides.
Estimates of the annual total number of deaths in which alcohol has played a role can vary depending on the criteria used. The definition used by ONS allows for comparisons over time for those deaths where a clear association with alcohol consumption can generally be assumed.
There are a number of complementary research monitors in the Health and Wellbeing section that detail figures that are linked to alcohol deaths. These include the Life Expectancy at Birth and Mental Health in Lancashire Research Monitors.
Also of note are the increases that have occurred in crimes classified as 'violence against the person'. Alcohol-related death figures provide a proxy for the general rise in alcohol consumption and the links between the two are clearly apparent.
Interpretation of Results
| Males | Females | |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 9.1 | 5.0 |
| 1992 | 9.0 | 4.6 |
| 1993 | 9.1 | 4.8 |
| 1994 | 10.0 | 5.2 |
| 1995 | 11.1 | 5.7 |
| 1996 | 12.0 | 6.1 |
| 1997 | 13.3 | 6.6 |
| 1998 | 14.4 | 6.8 |
| 1999 | 14.9 | 7.3 |
| 2000 | 15.2 | 7.4 |
| 2001 | 16.6 | 7.8 |
| 2002 | 16.7 | 7.9 |
| 2003 | 17.8 | 8.1 |
| 2004 | 17.6 | 8.3 |
| Source Office for National Statistics | ||
The 95% confidence intervals have been calculated for the mortality rates presented in this report. For comparisons between areas, the confidence intervals assist in identifying where differences are statistically significant. For example, where the lower confidence limit for an area is higher than the upper confidence for another area the two rates will be significantly different.
National Context
Over recent years, alcohol-related deaths in the United Kingdom have increased at quite a dramatic rate. The figures for 1991-2004, reveal that the rate has almost doubled over the period for males to reach 17.6 per 100,000 population whilst for females the 2004 figure was 8.3.
There has been much media attention focused on binge drinking, extended licensing hours and under-age drinking etc. All these factors do however need to be considered within the broader context of ever improving living standards. In general terms, people have more money to spend and one of the unfortunate consequences is more alcohol-related deaths.
Lancashire Context
Average male and female alcohol-related death results for the Lancashire districts are listed in Tables 2 and 3. The figures are combined results for the period 1998-2004, therefore are not directly comparable with the yearly national statistics in Table 1.
Table 2, reveals that Blackpool Unitary Authority had the unenviable distinction of recording the ninth highest overall death rate for males out of 426 authorities covering the whole of the UK. Glasgow recorded the highest rate (83.7), whilst six other areas in Scotland occupied the second to seventh places. Belfast West was in eighth position, which meant that the Lancashire coastal resort had the highest male alcohol death rate in England. Preston and Blackburn with Darwen were also ranked in the top 50 worst areas for in the UK for male alcohol-related deaths.
In comparison, Ribble Valley recorded the lowest rate for males in the county, and was alone in Lancashire in having a rate below 10.0, and was the only Lancashire authority not ranked in the top 50% in the UK.
The results for females are distorted by the relatively large number of authorities (53) for which no figures are available, however numbers have been published for the 14 Lancashire authorities.
Blackpool once again recorded the worst result in the county with a rate of 17.1 and ranking of 10th worst in the UK. Yet again, Glasgow recorded the highest rate (30.9) with the female rate for Blackpool being the highest in England. Blackburn with Darwen, Preston and Fylde were also listed in the top 50 worst areas across the UK, whilst Ribble Valley once more recorded the best rate in the county.
| Rate per 100,000 Population | Lower Limit of 95% Confidence Interval | Upper Limit of 95% Confidence Interval | Number of Alcohol-Related Deaths | Rank(1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley | 21.0 | 15.9 | 26.1 | 65 | 66 |
| Chorley | 14.6 | 10.8 | 18.4 | 56 | 166 |
| Fylde | 16.5 | 11.8 | 21.2 | 47 | 119 |
| Hyndburn | 20.3 | 15.1 | 25.5 | 58 | 72 |
| Lancaster | 17.5 | 13.7 | 21.3 | 82 | 102 |
| Pendle | 13.8 | 9.7 | 17.9 | 44 | 188 |
| Preston | 28.2 | 23.2 | 33.2 | 123 | 24 |
| Ribble Valley | 9.4 | 5.4 | 13.4 | 21 | 325 |
| Rossendale | 14.7 | 9.8 | 19.6 | 35 | 164 |
| South Ribble | 13.9 | 10.2 | 17.6 | 54 | 186 |
| West Lancashire | 14.5 | 10.8 | 18.2 | 59 | 169 |
| Wyre | 19.6 | 15.3 | 23.9 | 81 | 80 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | 23.8 | 19.2 | 28.4 | 104 | 46 |
| Blackpool | 39.7 | 34.3 | 45.1 | 211 | 9 |
| Notes Results were not obtained for seven authorities. | |||||
| (1) Rank out of 426 authorities across the UK. Figures unavailable for four authorities. | |||||
| Source Office for National Statistics | |||||
| Rate per 100,000 Population | Lower Limit of 95% Confidence Interval | Upper Limit of 95% Confidence Interval | Number of Alcohol-Related Deaths | Rank(1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley | 6.1 | 3.4 | 8.8 | 20 | 234 |
| Chorley | 9.8 | 6.7 | 12.9 | 38 | 72 |
| Fylde | 10.7 | 7.3 | 14.1 | 37 | 48 |
| Hyndburn | 8.7 | 5.3 | 12.1 | 25 | 109 |
| Lancaster | 9.0 | 6.4 | 11.6 | 47 | 98 |
| Pendle | 8.6 | 5.5 | 11.7 | 29 | 111 |
| Preston | 12.6 | 9.3 | 15.9 | 55 | 22 |
| Ribble Valley | 4.2 | 1.6 | 6.8 | 10 | 368 |
| Rossendale | 6.8 | 3.7 | 9.9 | 18 | 194 |
| South Ribble | 7.6 | 4.9 | 10.3 | 31 | 152 |
| West Lancashire | 10.4 | 7.4 | 13.4 | 46 | 54 |
| Wyre | 7.0 | 4.6 | 9.4 | 34 | 179 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | 11.7 | 8.6 | 14.8 | 54 | 32 |
| Blackpool | 17.1 | 13.7 | 20.5 | 99 | 10 |
| Notes Results were not obtained for seven authorities. | |||||
| (1) Rank out of 426 authorities across the UK. Figures unavailable for 53 authorities. | |||||
| Source Office for National Statistics | |||||
This page was compiled by Bryan Moulding.
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