Alcohol-attributable burden of disease and injury in Canada, 2004

Objective This analysis aimed to estimate the burden of disease and injury caused and prevented by alcohol in 2004 for Canadians aged 0-69 years and compare the effects of different magnitudes of adjustment of survey data on these estimates. Methods Alcohol indicators were obtained from the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey 2008 and were corrected to 80% coverage using adult per capita recorded and unrecorded consumption. Risk relations were taken from meta-analyses. Estimates of burden of disease and injury were obtained from the World Health Organization. Results In 2004, 4,721 (95% CI 1,432-8,150) deaths and 274,663 (95% CI 201,397-352,432) disability-adjusted life years lost (DALYs) of Canadians 0-69 years of age were attributable to alcohol. This represented 7.1% (95% CI 2.1-12.2%) of all deaths and 9.3% (95% CI 6.8-11.9%) of DALYs for this age range. The sensitivity analysis showed that the outcome estimates varied substantially based on the adjusted coverage rate. Conclusion More attention to burden of disease and injury statistics is required to accurately characterize alcohol-related harms. This burden is preventable and could be reduced by implementation of more effective policies.