Baby boomer1 alcohol harm 'more likely than in young'
By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News 12 October 2012 Last updated at 01:52 GMT
A variety of methods have been used by countries to try to curb problem drinking
[1] More National Health Service money is
spent treating alcohol-related illness in baby
boomers than young people, a study says.
The Alcohol Concern report found the cost of
[5] hospital admissions linked to heavy drinking 55 to
74-year-olds in 2010-11 was more than £825m.
That was 10 times the figure for 16 to 24-year-
olds.
In total, nearly £2bn was spent on alcohol-
[10] related in-patient admissions in England, the report
found.
This comes as more than 10 million people in
England are drinking above the recommended
levels, according to the report.
[15] The sum spent on treating the baby boomer
generation went on 454,317 patients, compared
with the 54,682 under-24s who were treated at a
cost of £64m.
Problem drinking is a contributing factor for a
[20] host of diseases, including liver, kidney and heart
disease, as well as increasing the risk of injury.
In many ways the findings are not surprising as
the effects of drinking are more likely to catch up
with people later in life.
[25] 'Expensive care'
But the charity said part of the reason for
compiling the report, which was based on NHS
figures, was to break down the data by individual
local authority area.
[30] It hopes the information, compiled with funding
from drug company Lundbeck, will be used by
councils next year when they take responsibility
for problem drinking as part of their new remit
covering public health under the shake-up of the
[35] NHS.
Alcohol Concern chief executive Eric Appleby
said he hoped they would use the findings to help
them focus their energy on schemes to tackle
problem drinking.
[40] "It is a common perception that young people
are responsible for the increasing cost of alcohol
misuse, but our findings show that in reality this is
not the case.
"It is the middle-aged, and often middle-class
[45] drinker, regularly drinking above recommended
limits, who are actually requiring this complex and
expensive NHS care."
Liver disease expert Sir Ian Gilmore, a former
president of the Royal College of Physicians, who
[50] has long campaigned about alcohol misuse,
agreed. He said: "It is the unwitting chronic middle-
aged drinkers who are taking serious risks with
their health."
http://www.menshealth.com/travel-center/travel-stress
1- A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic post-World War II baby boom between the years 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
O verbo “to curb”, conforme aparece na legenda abaixo da figura, é sinônimo de
