Alcohol
On this page, statistics are given for alcohol related behaviours, hospital activity and mortality.
Data for alcohol related behaviours include an estimate of the alcohol consumption patterns (e.g. percentage of those who abstain from alcohol, those who consume a lower risk amount, those who consume an increasing risk amount and those who consume a higher risk amount of alcohol) at Local Authority District level. Also included in the behaviours section is the rate of alcohol-related road traffic accidents (e.g. reported drink drive accidents) for each CCG in West Sussex.
Hospital activity, and mortality, are given at CCG level for conditions specific to alcohol and those related to alcohol:
- Alcohol-specific conditions: Conditions where alcohol is causally implicated in all cases of the condition. In this case the alcohol attributable fraction (the proportion of a health condition or external cause that is attributable to a specific risk factor in a given population) is 1.0, as all cases (100%) are caused by alcohol.
- Hospital-related conditions: All alcohol-specific conditions plus those where alcohol is causally implicated in some but not all causes of the outcome (e.g. hypertensive diseases, some cancers, and some cases of falls). The alcohol-attributable fraction will range from 0 to 1.0 according to the proportion of cases where the condition was caused by alcohol.
With the exception of modelled alcohol consumption estimates, all indicators are presented at CCG level.
Drinking behaviours
The North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO) working with Liverpool John Moores University produced modelled estimates of drinking behaviour (among those aged 16 years and over) at Local Authority District level based on lifestyle survey data, hospital admissions, mortality data and population characteristics. Estimates for four groups were calculated: abstainers, lower risk drinkers, increasing risk drinkers and higher risk drinkers, aligned to national definitions.
Lower risk drinkers are defined as consumers of no more than 21 units per week for males and no more than 14 units per week for females. Increasing risk drinkers are defined as consumers of between 22 and 50 units of alcohol per week for males and between 15 and 35 units per week for females. Higher risk drinkers are consumers of above 50 units per week for males and more than 35 units per week for females.
The tables below show the modelled estimates of drinking behaviour for Horsham and Mid Sussex Local Authority Districts. The first table is an estimate of the whole population (including abstainers) and the second table is for drinkers only. In both tables, confidence intervals are very large and overlap. As such, the percentage estimates should be treated with caution.
Modelled drinking behaviours for Horsham and Mid Sussex; 2011
| Area | Abstain (95% CI) | Lower Risk (95% CI) | Increasing Risk (95% CI) | Higher Risk (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horsham | 8.8% (4.9-14%) | 60.7% (30.7-80.4%) | 23.9% (7.2-54.1%) | 6.6% (1.8-22.1%) |
| Mid Sussex | 10.7% (6.1-16.5%) | 58.3% (29.5-78%) | 22.9% (6.9-51.9%) | 8.2% (2.3-25.6%) |
| South East | 12.1% (7.3-18.1%) | 63.7% (36.7-80.3%) | 18.3% (5.7-44.1%) | 5.9% (1.8-18.8%) |
Modelled drinking behaviours - estimates for those who drink in Horsham and Mid Sussex; 2011
| Area | Abstain (95% CI) | Lower Risk (95% CI) | Increasing Risk (95% CI) | Higher Risk (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horsham | - (-) | 66.5% (33.6-86.2%) | 26.2% (7.8-58.7%) | 7.2% (1.9-24.5%) |
| Mid Sussex | - (-) | 65.2% (33.2-85.1%) | 25.6% (7.7-57.3%) | 9.1% (2.5-28.9%) |
| South East | - (-) | 72.5% (41.7-91.3%) | 20.8% (6.4-50.1%) | 6.7% (2.0-21.4%) |
An alcohol related road accident is defined as a reported incident on a public road in which someone is killed or injured, where at least one of the motor vehicle drivers or riders involved either refused to give a breath test specimen when requested by the police (other than when incapable of doing so for medical reasons) or failed a roadside breath test by registering above 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The statistic only includes incidents on public roads known to the police within 30 days of occurrence and so this is expected to be an underestimate of drink drinking behaviours. Data are pooled over three year periods to increase the accuracy of estimates.
In England, the rate per 1,000 for reported road accidents in which at least one driver failed a breath test has declined significantly between 2011-13 (27.6 accidents per 1,000 accidents, 95% CI: 27.1 – 28.2) and 2012-14 (26.4 accidents per 1,000 accidents, 25.8 – 26.9). In NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, the crude rate of alcohol related road accidents in 2012-14 was 31.6 alcohol related road accidents per 1,000 accidents (95% CI: 23.5 – 41.6 accidents), which is not significantly different from 2011-13 (31.5 accidents per 1,000, 95% CI: 23.5 – 51.4 accidents) or compared to the national rate.
The chart below shows the three year trend in alcohol related road traffic accidents in the three West Sussex CCGs between 2010-12 and 2012-14. As can be seen from the chart, there are large, overlapping confidence intervals at CCG level, indicating that there may be no difference across the CCGs.
Alcohol related hospital activity
As part of the Local Alcohol Profiles for England, the Knowledge and Intelligence Team (North West) calculates the number of men and women admitted to hospital each year for alcohol-specific (conditions where alcohol is causally implicated in all cases of the condition) and alcohol-related conditions (alcohol-specific conditions plus those where alcohol is causally implicated in some but not all cases), yielding a period prevalence estimate of the number of persons admitted to hospital at least once during the course of a financial year. The analysis is carried out using data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre – Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Mid Year Population Estimates. There can be up to 20 diagnosis codes for a single episode, and one individual can have multiple episodes in a given year. As such, rules are used to avoid double counting of people for statistics which describe the number of people admitted to hospital for alcohol related conditions.
There are two definitions of alcohol-related hospital admissions used in the health profiles:
- Narrow definition: Persons admitted to hospital where the primary diagnosis is an alcohol-attributable code or one of the secondary codes is an external alcohol-attributable code.
- Broad definition: Persons admitted to hospital where the primary diagnosis or any of the secondary diagnoses are an alcohol-attributable code.
It should be noted that hospital admission data can be coded differently in different parts of the country. Moreover, in some cases, details of the patient’s residence are insufficient to allocate the patient to a particular area and in other cases the patient has no fixed abode. These cases are included in the England total but not in the smaller area (e.g. CCG level). Finally, some indicators are person based and others are admission based. For example, the number of people admitted to hospital due to alcohol-related conditions per 100,000 European Standard Population is a person-specific measure whilst the number of admission episodes for alcohol-related conditions per 100,000 European Standard Population is an admission-specific measure.
Hospital admissions episodes for alcohol related conditions by age
Admission episode statistics for alcohol-related conditions are also broken down by age group. In 2014/15, more than one in five admission episodes in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG due to alcohol related conditions (narrow definition) were for those aged under 40 years (231 admission episodes, 22% of admission episodes, 95% CI: 19.6 – 24.6%). Almost half of admission episodes in 2014/15 in the CCG were to those aged 40-64 years (483 admission episodes, 45.9% of alcohol related admission episodes, 95% CI: 42.9 – 48.9%) and around one third of admission episodes were to those aged 65 years and over (32.2%, 95% CI: 29.4 – 35%).
There is a significant difference in the rate of admission episodes related to alcohol in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG in 2014/15 for those aged under 40 compared to 40-64 year olds and over 65s.
Among those aged under 40 years, the rate of admission episodes for alcohol related conditions (narrow definition) in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, in 2014/15, was 116 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013 (95% CI: 101.3 – 132 episodes). This is not significantly different to NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG (152 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 140 – 164.8 episodes), NHS Crawley CCG (132.5 episodes per 100,000 ESP, 95% CI: 112.6 – 154.3) or England (150.6 episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 149.6 – 151.6). The chart below shows the five year annual trend for under 40s’ alcohol related hospital activity in West Sussex CCGs.
In NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, in 2014/15, the admission episode rate for under 40’s was not significantly different among men (129.1 alcohol-related admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 107.3 – 153.3) compared to women (103.6 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 83.9 – 125.4 episodes). The chart below shows the hospital admission episode rate among men and women in West Sussex CCGs in 2014/15.
The rate of admissions in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, in 2014/15, among those aged 65 years and over was 149.9 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013 (95% CI: 134 – 166.7) and this is similar to the rate in NHS Crawley CCG (197.3 admissions per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 166.1 – 232.5 admissions) but significantly lower than the admission episode rate for NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG (179.4 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 169.1 – 190.2). The NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG rate is significantly lower compared to the rate for England in this period (190.5 admissions per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 189.3 – 191.8). The chart below shows the five year trend in alcohol-related admissions (narrow definition) per 100,000 ESP 2013 for West Sussex CCGs between 2010/11 and 2014/15.
The rate of admission episodes among those aged 65 and over is significantly higher for men (214.6 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 185.9 – 245.6) compared to women (101.1 admission episodes per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 83.7 – 120.1) as shown in the chart below.
Alcohol related mortality
Alcohol-specific mortality (where alcohol is causally implicated in all cases of the condition or external cause of death) is based on three consecutive years of mortality data and is a directly age-standardised rate per year per 100,000 population (standardised to the European Standard Population, ESP 2013). In the period 2012-14, there were 55 alcohol-specific deaths in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, representing a rate of 8 deaths per 100,000 ESP 2013 (95% CI: 6 – 10.4 deaths). This is statistically similar to the alcohol specific mortality rate in NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG (10 deaths per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 8.4 – 11.7 deaths), NHS Crawley CCG (8.7 deaths per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 5.6 – 12.9) and England (11.6 deaths per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI 11.4 – 11.8 deaths). The large, overlapping, confidence intervals at CCG level shown in the five year trend chart below may be the product of the small number of deaths included at this level.
Data of alcohol-specific mortality are available at CCG level for men and women separately. This data indicates that in 2012-14, there were 41 alcohol-specific deaths among men in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, at a rate of 12.5 deaths per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 9 – 17 deaths). This is significantly higher than the rate of alcohol-specific deaths among women in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG in 2012-14 (3.9 deaths per 100,000 ESP 2013, 95% CI: 2.1 – 6.5 deaths, based on 10 deaths). The chart below shows the alcohol-specific mortality rate among men and women in West Sussex CCGs in 2012-14. This indicates that in NHS Coastal West Sussex CCGs as well as regionally and nationally, men have a significantly higher alcohol-specific mortality rate than women.
Months of life lost due to alcohol provide an estimate of the increase in life expectancy if all alcohol related deaths among those under 75 years were prevented. This data is available for lower and upper tier Local Authorities as well as CCGs and the latest data is available for the pooled period 2012-14.
For men in England, in 2012-14, one year of life is lost on average due to alcohol-related conditions. In NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, 10 months of life are lost for men due to alcohol. The table below shows the months of life lost due to alcohol for males in West Sussex CCGs between 2008-10 and 2012-14. Confidence intervals are not available for these estimates.
The table shows that the months of life lost have increased every year in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG for males.
Months of Life Lost due to alcohol; Males in West Sussex CCGs; 2008-10 to 2012-14
| Area | 2008-10 | 2009-11 | 2010-12 | 2011-13 | 2012-14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG | 12.0 | 11.5 | 11.2 | 11.1 | 11.2 |
| NHS Crawley CCG | 11.3 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 8.0 |
| NHS Horsham And Mid Sussex CCG | 7.5 | 7.9 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 10.0 |
| West Sussex | 10.6 | 10.5 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 10.5 |
| South East region | 10.9 | 10.8 | 10.5 | 10.6 | 10.5 |
| England | 12.6 | 12.4 | 12.1 | 12.1 | 12.0 |
For women, on average 5.6 months of life was lost in England due to premature alcohol-related deaths for the period 2012-14. In NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG, females lose on average 4.2 months of life due to alcohol. The table below shows the months of life lost due to alcohol for females in West Sussex CCGs between 2008-10 and 2012-14. Females in NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG have lost fewer months, on average, compared to the other West Sussex CCGs in all five years.
Months of Life Lost due to alcohol; Females in West Sussex CCGs; 2008-10 to 2012-14
| Area | 2008-10 | 2009-11 | 2010-12 | 2011-13 | 2012-14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG | 5.2 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| NHS Crawley CCG | 5.0 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 5.5 |
| NHS Horsham And Mid Sussex CCG | 4.3 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.2 |
| West Sussex | 4.9 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 4.8 |
| South East region | 5.0 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| England | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.6 |