New Study Reveals The Extent Of Alcohol’s Harm To Those Other Than The Drinker

A new study from Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey
University has addressed a gap in understanding around the
full scope of alcohol-related harm.

The recently
published research explores the impact of alcohol
consumption on people beyond the drinker including instances
of harm involving traffic injuries, interpersonal injuries
and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

The
results showed the estimated burden of disease from alcohol
on those other than the drinker was slightly greater than
the combined impacts of alcohol-use on drinkers themselves.
This was based on the estimated number of years of healthy
life lost due to either living with disability or premature
deaths.

Lead author of the study and Co-Director of
the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre Professor Sally
Casswell believes the findings will be surprising to
many.

“For there to be greater impact on people
other than the drinker emphasises the need to consider the
full range of harms involved when assessing the need for
improved alcohol policy.”

A large contribution to
the ‘harm of others’ was attributed to FASD at 90.3 per
cent.

“The fact that those affected by FASD bear the
largest contribution of these adverse impacts is
significant. It is a lifelong condition with no known
treatment, and those affected are more likely to require
child protection services or become involved with the
criminal justice system. The impacts among the family can be
great.”

Māori were found to suffer harms related to
others’ use of alcohol at a higher rate than non-Māori.
Years of life lost due to disability affected Māori at a
rate of 25 per 1000 of the population and among non-Māori
the rate was 15 per 1000.

“These estimates from our
research support the claims currently before the Waitangi
Tribunal about the Crown’s failure to protect Māori from
the impact of alcohol by not putting in place an effective
alcohol policy, or responding adequately to FASD,”
Professor Casswell says.

Funded by the Health Research
Council, the research seeks to improve international
estimations of comparative harm. Globally, risk factors like
tobacco, obesity and alcohol are often compared in terms of
their impact on the global burden of disease and injury.
However, Professor Casswell says existing comparisons have
not adequately accounted for alcohol’s harm to others,
which plays a larger role in alcohol-related harm compared
with tobacco.

According to the findings, it is
estimated that 78,277 healthy life years were lost in
Aotearoa New Zealand in 2018 due to alcohol’s harm to
others. The main contributor was FASD, followed by traffic
crashes at 6.3 per cent and interpersonal violence 3.4 per
cent. The burden of harm to others was greater than that to
drinkers, with Disability Adjusted Life Years for others
totalling 78,277 compared to 60,174 for drinkers.

The
research uses data from New Zealand’s hospitalisation
records, ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) and survey
data, along with new estimates of the disability associated
with FASD and international alcohol-attribution fractions
(the contribution alcohol makes to specific injury and
conditions). It features in the Addiction
journal published this
week.

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