Burden exposure of alcohol bystanders

La Trobe University researchers The cost of alcohol use in Australia to those affected alcohol users, rather than the drinkers themselves, revealed an estimated cost of nearly $20 billion in 2016.

Published in Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research broke down that $20 billion to: $1.6 billion for child protection systems due to adult caregivers drinking; $560 million for alcohol-related households violence, and nearly $3 billion in lost productivity as people have to care for drinkers.

The overall amount spent by drinkers and those affected by their drinking is equivalent to the same amount as drinkers, making The total annual bill amounts to about $40 billion.

This forensic analysis by La Trobe University researchers reveals evidence from alcohol-related violence, car crashes, children Costs in terms of services, impact on quality of life and property damage.

PhD. Jason Jiang, from La Trobe’s Department of Public Health and the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, said the research to date has focused on the costs/harms of drinkers and government agencies responding to drinker behaviour and problems.

“This is the first measure of alcohol-related consumption by others through alcohol-related traffic accidents, crime, violence and aggression And research on the costs of those affected, family hardship, caring for drinkers and their families, and health care and social services,” Dr Jiang said.

“Research develops and applies a new framework to estimate the cost of harm caused by alcohol consumption by others, revealing alcohol consumption by those around the drinker The cost is much higher than the cost of the agencies that serve them (e.g. hospitals, criminal justice system), police and alcohol and other drug treatment and counseling services.”

PhD. Jiang said the study shows that drinking is generally as burdensome to others as drinkers are to themselves and the emergency agencies that serve them.

“This distinguishes alcohol from tobacco, for example, has a far greater burden of health hazards to smokers than secondhand smoke ,” Dr Jiang said.

“The findings provide strong evidence that the government can play an active role in reducing the burden of drinking on non-drinkers or bystanders , including actively intervening in the alcohol market to reduce these externalities.”

The study used a national average of 2,649 adults Population surveys and use data from response agencies to quantify the different costs of alcohol harm to others, such as health care; social services; crime costs; costs of lost productivity; loss of quality of life and other expenses.

Alcohol consumption kills 3 million people annually, accounting for 5.3% of total global deaths According to the World Health Organization, 2016 annual number of deaths, as well as many social issues such as street assaults, domestic violence, lost productivity and economic stress.

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