Mortality due to Diseases fully related to alcohol in the Americas

Background: WHO estimates that alcohol consumption was the sixth cause of death and first cause of disability in the Americas in 2004. However, limited information on deaths due to alcohol specific causes by country exists. Objective: To describe the current situation on mortality due to diseases fully related to alcohol in the Americas by sex, age and country and explore possible associations with alcohol consumption indicators. Methods: This is a cross sectional study. We analyzed mortality data from 16 countries in the Americas from 2007- latest available year and explored possible associations with alcohol consumption in the countries. Results: For all countries, an average of 75,000 deaths occurred annually in the triennium (2007-2009); males comprised 86% and females 14%. People aged 40-59 years represented 53.8% overall. Most deaths were due to liver diseases (63% overall; slightly higher among females), mental disorders (31% overall; slightly higher among males). Age-adjusted rates/100,000 were higher in El Salvador (27.9), Guatemala (22.5), Nicaragua (21.2) and Mexico (17.8) and lower in Colombia (1.8), Argentina (3.9) and Canada (4.9). Male's rates were higher than female's in all countries. The age group at highest risk ranged from 54-59 to 64-69 years among countries. The top five countries with the highest rates showed also higher hazard drink scores and higher per capita consumption per drinker, in liters of pure alcohol, including unrecorded consumption. Conclusions: It is important to raise awareness about the impact of alcohol related deaths and consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean in particular.