Question reference: S6W-26219
- Date lodged: 18 March 2024
-
Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 15 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on alcohol (a) consumption, (b) hospitalisations and (c) deaths in Scotland.
Answer
Public Health Scotland published a summary of evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption and harm in Scotland and England looking at data up to around 2021. This found that, overall, alcohol consumption decreased following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, changes in drinking behaviours were polarised with some increasing their alcohol consumption and others decreasing . This was associated with drinking behaviour before the pandemic: those who increased their alcohol consumption tended to drink more before the pandemic, and those who decreased consumption tended to drink less. Over the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol-related hospitalisations decreased, and alcohol-related deaths increased – potentially due to changing patterns of consumption and to the decrease in access to services over the pandemic.
More recent data shows that:
- For all adults, prevalence of hazardous or harmful drinking has generally decreased over time, with levels dropping from 34% in 2003 to 22% in 2022.
- In 2022/23, there were 31,206 alcohol-related hospital admissions (stays) in Scotland, a decrease of 11% since 2021/22.
- In 2022, 1,276 people in Scotland died from alcohol-specific causes, a 2% increase from 2021 and the highest number of annual deaths recorded since 2008
It is not possible to know the extent to which these trends are attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, increases in alcohol-specific mortality since 2019 are observed across many other countries including all 4 nations of the UK, other European countries, the US and Canada. It is widely observed, including by The Office for National Statistics, that these rises are likely in part to be the result of increased alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Health Scotland’s evaluation has found that the evidence points to minimum unit price having a positive impact on health outcomes. It is estimated to have cut alcohol consumption, alcohol-attributable deaths and likely to have reduced hospital admissions during the study period.