Female deaths through alcohol have doubled

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of women dying at an early age of alcohol abuse has almost doubled in the last 15 years, according to a government report on Monday.

Around 14 in 100,000 women aged 35 to 54 die from alcohol-related incidents, it found.

The level had dramatically risen since the 1970s, when it was amongst the lowest in the EU, it added.

"Whilst the EU-15 average has been falling, premature death rates from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in females in England has risen persistently," said the report, entitled "Health Profile of England 2007."

"(It has gone) from the lowest in the EU in 1970 to almost the average of the EU overall now."

The rate of admissions to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions was almost 2-1/2 times higher in Britain's northwest, than in the east.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered a review of new regulations allowing 24-hour drinking, in the wake of wide-ranging criticism.

The President of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Ian Gilmore, a liver specialist, said that government plans to review cut-price drinks promotions were welcome but much more must be done.