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Handbook of Disease Burdens and Quality of Life Measures pp 1603–1617Cite as

Alcohol Consumption and Burden of Disease: Germany and Switzerland

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Abstract:

We estimated the burden of disease attributable to alcohol in Germany and Switzerland for the year 2002. We calculated disease-specific attributable fractions for diseases and conditions based on relative risk estimates from meta-analyzes, prevalence of exposure from the Global Alcohol Database and large, representative surveys, and obtained mortality and burden of disease data from the World Health Organization. Comparatively high alcohol consumption in Switzerland caused substantial burden, in particular among Swiss women. Although alcohol consumption was high among women in Germany and Europe as well, the burden among women was much less compared to Switzerland. For men in both countries comparable burden of disease was estimated. Both detrimental and beneficial effects of alcohol consumption were considered in this analysis. Because effective and cost-effective interventions are available, the burden of disease due to alcohol should be a focus of public health policy development. Specific measures are discussed.

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Abbreviations

DALYs:

disability-adjusted life years, a health gap measure combining years of life lost and years lived with a disability, therefore taking into account mortality and morbidity

YLL:

years of life lost, a health gap measure taking into account the time of deaths relative to the normative life expectancy

Mortality:

number of deaths

CRA 2000:

comparative risk analysis study for the year 2000, conducted as part of the global burden of disease study by the World Health Organization

AF:

attributable fraction, the fraction of disease outcome, for example, that is caused by a specific risk factor, in this case alcohol

WHO:

World Health Organization; GBD, global burden of disease study conducted by the World Health Organization describing the effect of 26 risk factors on burden of disease around the world

GAD:

global alcohol database, maintained by the WHO. Alcohol consumption indicators are updated annually for each member state based on data from multiple sources; Europe A, WHO subregion defined by very low child and very low adult mortality

APC:

estimated adult (15 years and above) per capita alcohol consumption (in liters of pure alcohol consumed within one year)

HDL:

high density lipoprotein

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Acknowledgments

This study has been supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH-Project “Alkoholbedingte Mortalitaet und Krankheitslast in der Schweiz – von der Epidemiologie zu Empfehlungen hinsichtlich alkoholpolitischer Massnahmen”; contract 05.001178). The methodology was in part developed for the Comparative Risk Assessment for Alcohol, financially supported by the Swiss FOPH, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Research Institute for Public Health and Addiction, a WHO collaborative centre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada

    M. Roerecke, J. Rehm & J. Patra

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    M. Roerecke & J. Rehm

Authors
  1. M. Roerecke
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  2. J. Rehm
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  3. J. Patra
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Nutrition and Dietetics Nutritional Sciences Research Division School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King's College London, Franklin‐Wilkins Building 150 Stamford Street, SE1 9NH, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy (Prof.) (Prof.)

  2. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Health Science Center 1295 N. Martin, P.O. Box 245155, 85724-5155, Tucson, AZ

    Ronald R. Watson (Prof.) (Prof.)

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Roerecke, M., Rehm, J., Patra, J. (2010). Alcohol Consumption and Burden of Disease: Germany and Switzerland. In: Preedy, V.R., Watson, R.R. (eds) Handbook of Disease Burdens and Quality of Life Measures. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78665-0_93

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78665-0_93

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-78664-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-78665-0

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