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Impact of minimum price per unit of alcohol on patients with liver disease in UK

Impact of minimum price per unit of alcohol on patients with liver disease in UK
Impact of minimum price per unit of alcohol on patients with liver disease in UK
The slow epidemic of liver disease in the UK over the past 30 years is a result of increased consumption of strong cheap alcohol. When we examined alcohol consumption in 404 subjects with a range of liver disease, we confirmed that patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis drank huge amounts of cheap alcohol, with a mean weekly consumption of 146 units in men and 142 in women at a median price of 33p/unit compared with £1.10 for low-risk drinkers. For the patients in our study, the impact of a minimum unit price of 50p/unit on spending on alcohol would be 200 times higher for patients with liver disease who were drinking at harmful levels than for low-risk drinkers. As a health policy, a minimum unit price for alcohol is exquisitely targeted at the heaviest drinkers, for whom the impact of alcohol-related illness is most devastating.
alcohol, alcohol policy, cirrhosis, liver, minimum unit price
1470-2118
396-403
Sheron, Nick
cbf852e3-cfaa-43b2-ab99-a954d96069f1
Chilcott, Fern
a1b2c109-83d2-47ca-a41a-61212bd06c58
Matthews, Laura
ecaab610-b262-4528-8e58-c315fa07a1a2
Challoner, Ben
eabcfeae-f6e3-4b3f-858f-c8af7f1685e5
Thomas, Maria
487cc22c-c188-4d95-9108-a796552eeb57
Sheron, Nick
cbf852e3-cfaa-43b2-ab99-a954d96069f1
Chilcott, Fern
a1b2c109-83d2-47ca-a41a-61212bd06c58
Matthews, Laura
ecaab610-b262-4528-8e58-c315fa07a1a2
Challoner, Ben
eabcfeae-f6e3-4b3f-858f-c8af7f1685e5
Thomas, Maria
487cc22c-c188-4d95-9108-a796552eeb57

Sheron, Nick, Chilcott, Fern, Matthews, Laura, Challoner, Ben and Thomas, Maria (2014) Impact of minimum price per unit of alcohol on patients with liver disease in UK. Clinical Medicine, 14 (4), 396-403. (doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.14-4-396). (PMID:25099842)

Record type: Article

Abstract

The slow epidemic of liver disease in the UK over the past 30 years is a result of increased consumption of strong cheap alcohol. When we examined alcohol consumption in 404 subjects with a range of liver disease, we confirmed that patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis drank huge amounts of cheap alcohol, with a mean weekly consumption of 146 units in men and 142 in women at a median price of 33p/unit compared with £1.10 for low-risk drinkers. For the patients in our study, the impact of a minimum unit price of 50p/unit on spending on alcohol would be 200 times higher for patients with liver disease who were drinking at harmful levels than for low-risk drinkers. As a health policy, a minimum unit price for alcohol is exquisitely targeted at the heaviest drinkers, for whom the impact of alcohol-related illness is most devastating.

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More information

Published date: 1 August 2014
Keywords: alcohol, alcohol policy, cirrhosis, liver, minimum unit price
Organisations: Faculty of Medicine

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 365134
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/365134
ISSN: 1470-2118
PURE UUID: 162da22f-e60b-4516-85e4-74605c2f698c
ORCID for Nick Sheron: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5232-8292

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Date deposited: 27 May 2014 09:35
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 16:46

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Contributors

Author: Nick Sheron ORCID iD
Author: Fern Chilcott
Author: Laura Matthews
Author: Ben Challoner
Author: Maria Thomas

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