Zeitschrift für Suchtforschung und -therapie

Abstrakt

Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol Dependence and Related Harms in France:Increasing Public Health by Increasing the Availability of Treatment for Alcohol Dependence

Kevin D Shield, Jürgen Rehm, Maximilien X Rehm, Gerrit Gmel and Henri-Jean Aubin

Objectives: To estimate the number of deaths due to alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence, and the number of deaths avoided if alcohol dependence treatment coverage rates had been increased in France in 2004.

Methods: Alcohol-attributable deaths and the effects of increasing the coverage rate for alcohol dependence treatment were estimated for France in 2004 using alcohol-attributable fractions and simulations. Data on alcohol dependence, alcohol consumption and mortality were obtained from the Gender, alcohol and culture: an international study, the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health, and the 2004 Global Burden of Disease study respectively.

Results: In France in 2004 15,282 deaths (2,998 female deaths; 12,284 male deaths) or 13.6% of all deaths (8.7% of all female deaths; 15.8% of all male deaths) of people 15 to 64 years of age were estimated to be attributable to alcohol consumption. Of these deaths, 70.3% (60.5% for females; 72.7% formales) were attributable to heavy drinking, and 61.6% (42.4% for females; 66.3% for males) were attributable to alcohol dependence. Increasing coverage of pharmacological alcohol dependence treatment (the most effective treatment for people with alcohol dependence in France) to 40% would result in an estimated reduction of 7.3% (219 deaths/year) of all female and 8.9% (1092 deaths/ year) of all male alcohol-attributable deaths.

Conclusion: The burden of alcohol-attributable deaths in France is large and preventable. An increase in France of treatment coverage for alcohol dependence could reduce a large proportion of the alcohol-attributable burden of disease.