The Burden of Selected Alcohol Related Diseases

 

Alcohol consumption is associated with a range of health and social consequences, including alcohol use disorders, injuries, several forms of cancer, chronic liver diseases, heart diseases, alcohol dependence, and domestic violence. 

This visualization shows the level, distribution, and trends of the burden of selected alcohol-related diseases, including alcohol use disorders, cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol use, and liver cancer due to alcohol use by age, sex, and location (region, subregions, and countries) of the Region of the Americas from 2000 to 2019.

Mortality

In the Region of the Americas in 2019, the selected alcohol-related diseases accounted for:

  • 104,722 deaths (83,385 death in men, and 21,337 deaths in women)
  • 10.4 deaths per 100,000 population (crude rate), which is higher for men (16.8 deaths per 100,000 persons) than for women (4.2 deaths per 100,000 persons)

Crude death rate increased 26.2% from 8.2 deaths/100,000 in 2000 to 10.4 deaths/100,000 in 2019

Age-standardized death rates slightly decreased 2.6% from 8.8 deaths/100,000 in 2000 to 8.6 deaths/100,000 in 2019

Countries with the highest level of age-standardized death rates in 2019:

  1. Guatemala
  2. Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
  3. Honduras
  4. Haiti
  5. Nicaragua
  6. El Salvador
  7. Suriname

 

Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)

In the Region of the Americas in 2019, the selected alcohol-related diseases accounted for:

  • 6.2 million DALYs (4.7 DALYs in men, and 1.5 DALYs in women)
  • 622.8 DALYs per 100,000 population (crude rate), which is higher for men (934.4 DALYs per 100,000 persons) than for women (294.1 DALYs per 100,000 persons)

The crude DALY rate increased 8.1% from 564.3 years per 100,000 population in 2000 to 609.8 years per 100,000 in 2019

The age-standardized DALY rates decreased 5.4% from 593.1 years per 100,000 population in 2000 to 561.2 years per 100,000 in 2019

Countries with the highest level of age-standardized DALY rates in 2019:

  1. Guatemala
  2. El Salvador
  3. Nicaragua
  4. Honduras
  5. Haiti
  6. Paraguay
  7. Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

Years of life lost (YLLs)

In the Region of the Americas in 2019, the selected alcohol-related diseases accounted for:

  • 3.2 million YLL (2.6 million YLLs in men, and 0.6 million YLLs in women)
  • 319.7 YLLs per 100,000 population (crude rate), which is higher for men (526.0 YLLs per 100,000 persons) than for women (119.0 YLLs per 100,000 persons)

The crude DALY rate increased 15% from 278.0 years per 100,000 population in 2000 to 319.7 years per 100,000 in 2019

Age-standardized YLLs rates decreased 6.5% from 299.4 years per 100,000 population in 2000 to 280.0 years per 100,000 in 2019

Countries with the highest level of age-standardized YLL rates in 2019:

  1. Guatemala
  2. Haiti
  3. El Salvador
  4. Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
  5. Honduras
  6. Nicaragua
  7. Guyana

Years lived with disability (YLDs)

In the Region of the Americas in 2019, the selected alcohol-related diseases accounted for:

  • 2.9 million YLDs (2.0 million YLDs in men, and 0.9 million YLDs in women)
  • 290.1 YLDs per 100,000 population (crude rate), which is higher for men (408.4 YLDs per 100,000 persons) than for women (175.1 YLDs per 100,000 persons)

Regionwide, the crude YLD rate slightly increased 1.4% from 286.3 years per 100,000 population in 2000 to 290.2 years per 100,000 in 2019

Meanwhile, the age-standardized YLDs rates decreased 4.3% from 293.7 years per 100,000 population in 2000 to 281.2 years per 100,000 in 2019

Countries with the highest level of age-standardized YLD rates in 2019:

  1. El Salvador
  2. Guatemala
  3. Brazil
  4. Chile
  5. Haiti
  6. Paraguay
  7. Nicaragua
  8. Honduras
Suggested citation

Pan American Health Organization. The burden of selected alcohol-related diseases in the Region of the Americas, 2000-2019. Pan American Health Organization. Washington DC, 2021

DATA CLASSIFICATION

In the map and horizontal bar chart, the data is presented in five classes created using the quantile classification method. Each class contains 20% of countries, which is easy to interpret. The quintile intervals are labeled sequentially from Quintile 1, also called the bottom quintile which includes the lowest fifth (0 to 20%) of data points to Quintile 5 (or top quintile), which includes the top fifth (80% to 100%) of data points.

INDICATOR DEFINITION

Measure: Death, Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), and Years of Life Lost (YLLs) due to premature death.  

Metric: Rate

Unit of Measure: For mortality measures: deaths per 100,000 population. For measures of burden of disease: years per 100,000 population 

Topic: Mortality and burden of disease

Rationale: Measuring how many people die each year and why they died is one of the most important means – along with gauging how diseases and injuries are affecting people – for assessing the effectiveness of a country’s health system. Statistics of causes of death and disability help inform public health policy and planning.

Definitions:

The selected alcohol-related diseases, presented in this topic, comprise three specific conditions as defined by the GHE cause list: 1) alcohol use disorders, 2) cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol use, and 3) liver cancer due to alcohol use.

Definition of metrics: the following metrics represent the aggregated estimates of the above-mentioned conditions.

The death rate due to alcohol-related disease: Number of deaths due to alcohol use disorders in a year, divided by the population and multiplied by 100 000.

DALY rate: Number of DALYs due to due to alcohol-related disease in a year, divided by the population and multiplied by 100 000.

YLD rate: Number of YLD due to due to alcohol-related disease in a year, divided by the population and multiplied by 100 000.

YLL rate: Number of YLL due to alcohol-related disease in a year, divided by the population and multiplied by 100 000.

Disaggregation: Age, Sex, Location (region, subregion, and country), and Year.

The categories "All-ages, and Age-standardized included in the dimension Age, have the following meaning:

  • All-ages indicate that the death rate was computed by the aggregation of deaths from every age group, and the rate is crude (without removing the effect of age distribution across population groups or geographies).
  • Age-standardized indicates that the death rate refers to all ages but it has been age-standardized by the direct method using the WHO world standard population.

Method of estimation: Mortality and burden of disease measures by cause, age, sex, and location (countries, the region of the Americas, and subregions) were computed based on estimates of the absolute number of deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and years of life lost (YLLs) due to premature mortality from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Estimates 2019 (GHE). These data represent the best and most updated estimates of the WHO which have been computed using standard categories, definitions, and methods to ensure cross-country comparability, and may not be the same as official national estimates. 

Methodological details:

Data sources and methods for estimating deaths and burden of diseases are described in the following documents:

Method of estimation of the regional and subregional aggregates: Calculated by aggregating the country values (both numerator and the population) using population estimates from the World Population Prospects 2019, produced by the UN Population Division, as denominators.

Preferred data sources: Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems with complete coverage and medical certification of cause of death.

  1. WHO. WHO methods and data sources for country-level causes of death 2000-2019. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020. Available online (accessed 1 February 2021).
  2. WHO. WHO methods and data sources for global burden of disease estimates, 2000-2019. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2020. Available online (accessed 1 February 2021).
  3. PAHO. Methodological Notes, NMH Data Portal. Pan American Health Organization. 2021.

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