Overview
Alcohol and alcoholic beverages contain ethanol, which is a psychoactive and toxic substance with dependence-producing properties. Alcohol has been widely used in many cultures for centuries, but it is associated with significant health risks and harms.
Worldwide, 2.6 million deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption in 2019, of which 2 million were among men and 0.6 million among women. The highest levels of alcohol-related deaths per 100 000 persons are observed in the WHO European and African Regions with 52.9 deaths and 52.2 deaths per 100 000 people, respectively.
People of younger age (20–39 years) are disproportionately affected by alcohol consumption with the highest proportion (13%) of alcohol-attributable deaths occurring within this age group in 2019.
The data on global alcohol consumption in 2019 shows that an estimated 400 million people aged 15 years and older live with alcohol use disorders, and an estimated 209 million live with alcohol dependence.
There has been some progress; from 2010 to 2019, the number of alcohol-attributable deaths per 100 000 people decreased by 20.2% globally.
There has been a steady increase in the number of countries developing national alcohol policies. Almost all countries implement alcohol excise taxes. However, countries report continued interference from the alcohol industry in policy development.
Based on 2019 data, about 54% out of 145 reporting countries had national guidelines/standards for specialized treatment services for alcohol use disorders, but only 46% of countries had legal regulations to protect the confidentiality of people in treatment.
Access to screening, brief intervention and treatment for people with hazardous alcohol use and alcohol use disorder remains very low, as well as access to medications for treatment of alcohol use disorders. Overall, the proportion of people with alcohol use disorders in contact with treatment services varies from less than 1% to no more than 14% in all countries where such data are available.
Health risks of alcohol use
Alcohol consumption is found to play a causal role in more than 200 diseases, injuries and other health conditions. However, the global burden of disease and injuries caused by alcohol consumption can be quantified for only 31 health conditions on the basis of the available scientific evidence for the role of alcohol use in their development, occurrence and outcomes.
Drinking alcohol is associated with risks of developing noncommunicable diseases such as liver diseases, heart diseases, and different types of cancers, as well as mental health and behavioural conditions such as depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorders.
An estimated 474 000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases were caused by alcohol consumption in 2019.
Alcohol is an established carcinogen and alcohol consumption increases the risk of several cancers, including breast, liver, head and neck, oesophageal and colorectal cancers. In 2019, 4.4% of cancers diagnosed globally and 401 000 cancer deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption.
Alcohol consumption also causes significant harm to others, not just to the person consuming alcohol. A significant part of alcohol-attributable disease burden arises from injuries such as road traffic accidents. In 2019, of a total of 298 000 deaths from alcohol-related road crashes, 156 000 deaths were caused by someone else’s drinking.
Other injuries, intentional or unintentional, include falls, drowning, burns, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and suicide.
A causal relationship has been established between alcohol use and the incidence or outcomes of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of having a child with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), the most severe form of which is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which is associated with developmental disabilities and birth defects. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can also increase the risk of pre-term birth complications including miscarriage, stillbirth and premature delivery. Younger people are disproportionately negatively affected by alcohol consumption, with the highest proportion (13%) of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 occurring among people aged between 20 and 39 years.
In the long term, harmful and hazardous levels of alcohol consumption can lead to social problems including family problems, issues at work, financial problems, and unemployment.
ALCOHOL EFFECTS ON YOUR BODY
Drinking too much – on a single occasion or over time – can take a serious toll on your health. Here’s how alcohol can affect your body:
Brain:
Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart:
Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including:
- Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle
- Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
Liver:
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including:
- Steatosis, or fatty liver
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Fibrosis
- Cirrhosis
Pancreas:
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation in the pancreas that causes its swelling and pain (which may spread) and impairs its ability to make enzymes and hormones for proper digestion.
Cancer:
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI): “There is a strong scientific consensus that alcohol drinking can cause several types of cancer. In its Report on Carcinogens, the National Toxicology Program of the US Department of Health and Human Services lists consumption of alcoholic beverages as a known human carcinogen.
“The evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinks–particularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over time–the higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. Even those who have no more than one drink per day and people who binge drink (those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting) have a modestly increased risk of some cancers. Based on data from 2009, an estimated 3.5% of cancer deaths in the United States (about 19,500 deaths) were alcohol related.”
Clear patterns have emerged between alcohol consumption and increased risks of certain types of cancer:
- Head and neck cancer, including oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx cancers.
- Esophageal cancer, particularly esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, people who inherit a deficiency in an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol have been found to have substantially increased risks of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma if they consume alcohol.
- Liver cancer.
- Breast cancer: Research has shown an important association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer—even one drink per day can increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer by 5% to 15% compared to women who do not drink at all.
- Colorectal cancer.
For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage “Alcohol and Cancer Risk” (last accessed June 6, 2024).
Immune System:
Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
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