Alcohol consumption and alcohol-attributable burden of disease in Switzerland, 2002

Objectives: This analysis estimated alcohol-attributable burden of disease for Switzerland. Methods: Exposure distributions were taken from the 2002 Swiss Health Survey and adjusted for per capita consumption. Risk relations were taken from meta-analyses. Mortality and burden of disease data were taken from the World Health Organization. Results: Overall consumption and alcohol-attributable mortality and burden of disease in Switzerland were high compared to European and global averages, especially among women. Overall in Switzerland in 2002, 2016 deaths (5.2% of all deaths in men, 1.4% in women), 28,939 years of life lost (men: 10.5%, women: 4.9%) and 70,256 disability adjusted life years (men: 12.9%, women: 4.2%) were attributable to alcohol. These numbers are net numbers already incorporating the cardio-protective and other beneficial effects of alcohol. Conclusions: Limitations of the approach used are discussed. In addition, questions of causality and confounding are addressed.