There is a burden of disease on all the citizens of the world as we pay for diseases through taxes and increased costs in the health care system. According to a recent Science Daily release, the burden that is attributable to alcohol is 3.2 percent around the world.
In terms of alcohol consumption, Portugal claims the eighth position in the world. A recent study found that alcohol consumption in Portugal represents a heavy economic burden for the country’s health system.
"As a gastroenterologist, someone who takes cares of patients with liver diseases, I am very aware that alcohol-related liver cirrhosis is a disease with a very high morbidity and mortality," said Helena Cortez-Pinto, associate professor in the Institute of Molecular Medicine and corresponding author for the study in the Science Daily.
In the process of this study, Cortez-Pinto and colleagues analyzed 2005 demographic and health statistics using the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) which sums the effects alcohol-related diseases (ARDs) can have on premature mortality.
According to Cortez-Pinto, a significant percentage of deaths – 3.8 percent – in Portugal were somehow caused by alcohol consumption. There is a tremendous burden of disease, resulting in 38,780 years of life lost for death or disability due to alcohol.
“The main source was liver disease at 31.5 percent, followed by traffic accidents at 28.2 percent, and several types of cancer and cardiovascular disease at 19.2 percent,” said Cortez-Pinto. “In addition, this collectively represented a total cost of €191.0 million ($239 million USD) in direct costs, representing 0.13 percent of Gross Domestic Product and 1.25 percent of total national health expenditures."
She also noted that this research identified males as being significantly more engaged in heavy drinking activities, while such activities were inversely correlated with the amount of education and strongly correlated with cigarette smoking.
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