Alcohol-related hospital admissions rise

A man drinks a pint of beer in this undated file photo. Alcohol is leading to more hospital admissions in England, where the problem of drinking a ''hazardous'' amount of alcohol is more prevalent in affluent areas, according to figures released on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Alcohol is leading to more hospital admissions in England, where the problem of drinking a "hazardous" amount of alcohol is more prevalent in affluent areas, according to figures released on Tuesday.

The rate of alcohol-specific and attributable admissions to hospital across England has climbed for both men and women in the past year, according to data published by the North West Public Health Observatory at the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University.

Some 909 per 100,000 hospital admissions among men are now attributable to alcohol, up from just 836 a year ago. Among women, 510 admissions are put down to alcohol, up from 466.

Researchers -- who have compiled the data for the second year and looked for the first time at the number of people drinking above recommended levels -- also found that those living in relatively well-off areas are more likely to drink above sensible levels.

Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Guildford and Woking, both in Surrey, are among the top ten areas for "hazardous" drinking -- defined as regularly drinking above 22-50 units per week for men and 15-35 for women.

The percentage of adults drinking to these levels ranges from 14.1-26.4 percent across England, the data showed.

The proportion of people drinking a "harmful" amount of alcohol -- more than 50 units per week for men and over 35 for women -- ranges from 3.2-8.8 percent.

This heavy drinking was found to be more common in deprived areas of the country, such as Manchester, Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull.

The findings come despite recent government efforts to tackle alcohol abuse.

It targeted so-called "middle class wine drinkers", who drink too much at home, in its alcohol strategy for England, as well as binge and under-age drinkers, earlier this year.

Professor Mark Bellis, director of the North West Public Health Observatory, said both hazardous and harmful drinking patterns were contributing to rising levels of alcohol-related ill-health and pressures on health services across the country.

"While much attention has been paid to binge drinking, less discussion has focused on the damages associated with routinely consuming too much alcohol," he said.

"Across England around one in five adults are drinking enough to put their health at significant risk and one in twenty enough to make disease related to alcohol consumption practically inevitable."

Bellis said steps should be taken to "reverse the tolerance that most communities have built up by simply consuming too much alcohol on a weekly basis".