Drinkers are more likely to die on roads than cirrhosis

Cancer and liver cirrhosis are your least worries if you are a frequent alcohol consumer, a new report shows.

Instead, as an alcohol consumer, you are more likely to die in a road accident or from self-inflicted injuries than diseases caused by heavy drinking.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2,223 people died in 2016 from road accidents and other injuries caused by intoxication of alcohol locally.

Cancer that resulted from alcohol intake claimed 964 lives while 987 died from liver cirrhosis. Globally, according to the report, three million people died in 2016 as a result of alcohol consumption

“Of all deaths attributable to alcohol, 28 per cent were due to injuries (traffic crashes, self-harm and interpersonal violence); 21 per cent due to digestive disorders; 19 per cent due to cardiovascular diseases, and the remainder due to infectious diseases, cancers, mental disorders and other health conditions,” reads the 2018 Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2018 released on September 21, 2018,

Drink-driving has several times been mentioned in Kenya as a major cause of road accidents, with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) introducing alcoblow.

The gadget measures blood alcohol level. Any amount above 0.029 per cent can impair a motorist’s judgement on the road.

Other types of injuries listed by WHO include falls, heat and hot substances, drowning and exposure to mechanical forces.

Some of the cancers associated with drinking are those associated with the oesophagus, colon, rectum, liver, breast, larynx and pharynx.

There are 39,000 new cases of cancer in the country annually, according to the Kenya Cancer Network.

The WHO noted that heavy consumers of alcohol were also more likely to be heavy tobacco smokers and frequent consumers of other psychoactive substances.

The global health body added that injuries that can arise from heavy alcohol use often reflected the joint effects of two or more substances in use which may aggravate an already bad situation.

“For instance, a Swedish longitudinal study found that the relative risk of head and neck cancers from heavy use of alcohol was 4.2 and from regular cigarette smoking was 6.3; however, from both behaviours together the relative risk was 22.1,” warns WHO. Beer, according to the report, is the leading form in which Kenyans consume alcohol at 40 per cent, followed by those who take ‘other’ forms of alcohol among them traditional liquor. Just 21 per cent consume alcohol as spirits and two per cent as wine.

The report evaluated the drinking habits of individuals in over 100 countries from the age of 15. Results of school surveys indicate that in many countries alcohol use starts early in life, and before the age of 15 years.

Kenya’s male population are the heavy drinkers, consuming 17.3 litres of pure alcohol per capita compared to females' 6.4 litres.

“The average daily consumption of people who drink alcohol is 33 grams of pure alcohol a day, roughly equivalent to 2 glasses (each of 150 ml) of wine, a large (750 ml) bottle of beer or two shots (each of 40 ml) of spirits,” read the report.

The WHO cautioned that the decrease in the prevalence of drinking globally did not mean that there were fewer current drinkers, because the world’s population has increased.