363 lives lost to alcohol in Derry/Strabane in a decade, figures show

Derry City and Strabane suffers the second highest rate of alcohol-specific deaths in the North with 28.1 per 100,000, according to the latest official figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Between 2012 and 2022, 363 people died due to alcohol in Derry and Strabane, 11 per cent of 3,218 such deaths in the North over the decade.

And the number of deaths has increased over the tens years in the city and district. There were 35 in 2012 but that had risen to 40 in 2022 – a hike of 14.3 per cent over the decade.

Only Belfast had a higher age-standardised rate of alcohol-specific deaths in 2022 at 30.1 per 100,000 population. A total of 843 died their from alcohol-specific illnesses over the decade.

The lowest rate in 2022 was recorded for Causeway Coast and Glens at 9.6 alcohol-specific deaths per 100,000. There were 190 deaths there over the decade. In Mid Ulster there were 162 deaths over the ten years.

The definition of alcohol-specific deaths includes conditions known to be exclusively caused by alcohol and excludes conditions which may only be partially attributed to alcohol use.

The latest figures show that there were 356 registered alcohol-specific deaths the North in 2022. This was six more than the previous year and accounted for 2.1 per cent of all deaths registered in 2022.

Over the decade, the North has seen deaths due to alcohol-specific causes rise by 45.9 per cent.

In 2022, almost two-thirds (65.2 per cent) of the 356 deaths were male. Males have consistently accounted for more such deaths each year, than females, accounting for 66.5 per cent of alcohol-specific deaths registered between 2012 and 2022.

The alcohol-specific death rate (adjusted for age) for males in 2022 was 26.1, nearly twice the rate for females, which stood at 13.2 deaths per 100,000 population.

The data further indicates that between 2012 and 2022, the corresponding alcohol-specific mortality rate for males increased by 32.5 per cent, from 19.7 to 26.1 per 100,000. The rate for females also saw a 33.3 per cent increase from 9.9 per 100,000 13.2 per 100,000.

Alcohol-specific deaths continue to be more prevalent among the 45-54 and 55-64 age groups, which together accounted for 55.1 per cent of all alcohol-specific deaths registered in 2022; however, this represents a decline when compared with the average across the combined years of 2012-2022 (63.5 per cent).

Since 2012, alcoholic liver diseases have accounted for, on average, two thirds of alcohol-specific deaths, increasing from 62.3 per cent in 2012 to 72.5 per cent in 2022.

Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol has consistently been the second most common cause of death among alcohol-specific deaths in NI over the same period, accounting for 19.7 per cent of alcohol-specific deaths in 2022.

Looking at the most recent five years together (2018 to 2022), there were over three times as many alcohol-specific deaths in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.

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