Alcohol claims lives of twice as many men as women

Scotland, February 23: A latest study has warned on the increasing number of deaths occurring in Scotland because of alcohol misuse. The study claims that every year the number of men losing their lives is twice than that of women.

For the research purposes, Scotland was divided into 144 areas based on the data available from the last population census. The General Register Office for Scotland was contacted in order to get records pertaining to alcohol-related deaths between 2000 and 2005 in these areas.

An “alcohol death map” was then formed by the research team from Glasgow University and the Medical Research Council (MRC). This map reveals the mortality rates across the country.

It was discovered that the maximum number of deaths due to alcohol occurred in the Glasgow area. Also, it was found that on an average, alcohol related illnesses claim lives of 1000 Scottish men and 448 women every year. The male death rate stands at 38 deaths per 100,000 while it is 16 deaths in the case of women.

The current study findings contradict the ongoing public opinion that alcohol abuse is more common among young women.

The Scottish Government is already working on tackling the country’s “booze culture”. Last year a new law was proposed which aimed at raising the age limit for buying alcohol from 18 to 21.

The present study was focused on getting a clear picture of the gender and geographical gap in deaths related to alcohol in the country.

Explaining this, Dr. Carol Emslie said, “We wanted to find out whether environment influenced the rate of alcohol-related deaths in both men and women across Scotland.”

Dr. Emslie further added, “In doing this, we looked at three main questions - which areas have the highest rates of alcohol-related death in Scotland, are these areas the same for men and women, and are there areas in Scotland where the gap between men and women's alcohol-related death rates is unusually large or small?”

Experts feel that the government needs to take some immediate steps in order to curb the growing menace of excessive alcohol consumption.

Co-author Dr. Richard Mitchell was quoted as saying in this regard, “Scotland is facing a huge public health problem which will require strong and radical action by the Scottish Government. It is interesting that the areas in which alcohol-related deaths are a particular problem are largely the same for men and women. The results suggest to us that both men and women are vulnerable to the social, economic and cultural pressures which can make people drink too much.”