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More Canadians wound up in the hospital because of alcohol-related reasons than heart attacks last year.
A report from the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) said that around 77,000 hospitalizations in Canada were due to conditions entirely caused by alcohol.
That’s compared to 75,000 hospitalizations due to heart attacks.
“On average, 212 Canadians were hospitalized each day last year for conditions entirely caused by alcohol,” the report says. “This number does not include people who were treated in emergency departments without being admitted to the hospital.”
In the report, CIHI put together a list of quick facts from the study:
- Males age 20 and older had higher rates of heavy drinking and hospitalizations than females in the same age group. However, among those age 10 to 19, girls had higher hospitalization rates than boys, with 63 per 100,000 and 45 per 100,000, respectively.
- The majority of hospitalizations were linked to mental health and addictions. Conditions related to mental health and addictions accounted for nearly 3 out of 4 hospitalizations entirely caused by alcohol.
- On average, there were more hospitalizations in the territories than in the provinces for harms caused entirely by alcohol. Hospitalization rates were higher in the west than in the east, with the exception of Nova Scotia.
- There is a paradox in that lower-income groups report less heavy drinking but have higher rates of hospitalization. The hospitalization rate for harms entirely caused by alcohol was 2.5 times higher for lower-income neighbourhoods than for the highest-income neighbourhoods, but low-income groups typically had a lower rate of heavy drinking.
“Our report shows that alcohol harm is a serious issue in Canada,” said CIHI’s Vice President of Research and Analysis, Kathleen Morris. “There is wide variation across the provinces and territories in the number of hospitalizations for conditions entirely caused by alcohol.”
Alcohol policies vary across the country’s different provinces and territories, but the report says that alcohol pricing policies are the most effective way to reduce alcohol consumption and harm.
Few jurisdictions adjust pricing to align with the percentage of alcohol content, which would prevent things with higher alcohol contents from being sold at low prices.
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