Women alcohol-linked deaths at 20-year high
Fewer people died directly from alcohol in 2017 than 20 years ago, but more women died from alcohol-related causes. Photo: AAP
More Australian women died from alcohol related causes last year than any time in the last 20 years.
But overall there were fewer deaths directly linked to alcohol last year compared to two decades ago, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
There were 1366 alcohol-induced deaths last year, the figures released on Wednesday show, with men in their early 60s with liver diseases most likely to be found among that group.
That means 5.1 deaths were directly linked to alcohol per 100,000 Australians, compared with a rate of 6.6 two decades earlier.
Despite that drop, alcohol was recorded as a contributing factor in 4186 deaths.
Women recorded the highest number of deaths involving alcohol in some way in the past 20 years, at seven deaths per 100,000 people.
The number of people dying of heart disease is down, but it still remains Australia’s leading cause of death.
Last year 18,590 people were killed by ischaemic heart disease, compared to 20,108 people five years earlier.
Stroke and lung cancer deaths have also declined.
The same can’t be said for dementia, which remains the second leading cause of death.
The brain disorders, which include Alzheimer’s disease, were responsible for 13,729 deaths last year, compared to 10,367 in 2012.
Last year’s nasty flu season was also evident in the figures. The number of people who died of influenza in 2017 was 1255, nearly triple the 464 who died of the virus in 2016.
-AAP