Low cost alcohol increases deaths from alcohol-related disease
A Finnish study has found that cutting the cost of alcohol substantially increases alcohol-related mortality.
Alcohol related mortality rose by 16% among men and 31% among women after a series of changes in the law in 2004 reduced the price of alcoholic drinks in Finland (American Journal of Epidemiology).
In January 2004 it became legal in Finland to import virtually unlimited amounts of alcoholic drinks from other European Union countries for buyers' own consumption. On 1 March taxes on alcohol were reduced by an average of 33%. The price of spirits in retail outlets fell by an average of 36%, the price of wine by 3%, the price of beer by 13%, and the price of other alcoholic drinks by 17% to 25%.
According to the authors of the study, in 2003 the estimated total annual alcohol consumption in Finland was 9.4 litres per inhabitant. The increase in consumption was estimated to be 10% in 2004 and a further 2% in 2005.
Chronic diseases accounted for 82% of the total increase in alcohol related mortality, and alcoholic liver diseases alone accounted for 39%. The number of deaths from alcoholic liver diseases rose by 38% among men and 41% among women.
