This category includes deaths due to alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence and alcohol poisoning. Nearly half of deaths in this grouping were due to alcohol dependence syndrome. The popular term for alcohol dependence is alcoholism.

See also Map 47 Chronic liver disease.

The geographical pattern for this cause of death is one of the most striking. A third of deaths due to this cause are in Scotland. Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and the northernmost parts of Scotland have the highest SMRs. The divide between Scotland and England is sharp – with only one part of one northern city (Newcastle) having rates comparable to much of Scotland.

70% of deaths for this cause are of males; for both males and females deaths peak in the 45–55-year-old age group.

Deaths from liver disease, many cancers, illegal drugs and suicide are not included here even when alcohol contributed to them.

Alcohol consumption patterns, whether within recommended ‘safe’ levels or in excess of these, are very much determined by the prevalent cultural and social values in a society. In Mediterranean countries alcohol is usually consumed with meals, and getting drunk is frowned upon. In the UK more people drink in order to get drunk, and being drunk is much more socially acceptable, and in some situations (for example, stag and hen parties) virtually demanded.

The ONS has produced a number of reports on alcohol-related deaths which include this and also other causes (for example, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis; alcoholic cardiomyopathy) but not accidents and assaults related to alcohol, suicides, or other causes of death to which alcohol may have a causal link for example, oesophageal cancer. The alcohol-related death rate in the UK almost doubled between 1991 and 2006 (ONS, 2008).

ONS (2008) Alcohol-related death rates continue to rise, News release, 25 January.

Some notable people who died due to alcohol problems are poet Dylan Thomas, artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, author Jack Kerouac and footballer George Best.