Written by surgeoneer

Systemic and Economic Impact of Alcohol

Like many patients in the emergency department, one night in a patient showed up cuffed with two policeman accompanying him. They patiently waited until their turn and finally when the doctor came to see them, they presented their story. The man had been drunk and was dealing with issues at his house. This particular time, he attempted to physically abuse his family and the family fought back. They called the police for their protection. His family had fallen into a difficult financial situation since he lost his job. The police brought him to the emergency department to get an assessment of the patient and ensure that he is physiologically and psychologically stable.

This is not just a story of one, but is a story of many individuals. In fact in 2015-2016 56,000 Canadians were hospitalized due to a condition caused by Alcohol [4]. It got me thinking, what is the impact of alcohol (Etoh)? Can we measure the systemic and economic impact that drinking has? I knew of the social benefits (in controlled cases), but was curious about the economic. So, I went into a rabbit hole…

Fun Notes

  1. Canada’s government earns a net revenue of $10.6 Billion from alcohol production and control [1].
  2. Canada Spent $20.6 Billion on alcohol’s and dealing with its consequences in 2010.
  3. Over 200 diseases directly associated with alcohol consumption (the causal relationships, long-term and short term impacts are well studied)
  4. In 2002, 4,258 deaths were related to Etoh abuse (that’s 1.9% of all deaths)
  5. There are some benefits to drinking alcohol, but they don’t start until age of over 38. Its mostly wine and it benefits a specific portion of people. [1][2][3][4]

What about Ontario ?

According to this data the highest rate of drinking is in North West (25.3%)

stats

Interactive data from: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/data-and-analysis/substance-use/alcohol-use

What are some factors that are accounted in the $20.6 Billion calculations?

There were many studies in different countries, but the impacted factors that are most commonly considered are the following:

  1. Direct
    • Healthcare cost
      • Hospital admittance
      • Hospital ED registration for medical clearance for shelter homes
      • Etoh associated diseases (short term and long term, picture below)
      • Premature mortality
    • Social work and support cost
    • Property damage or loss
    • Law reinforcement implications / victim time
  2. Indirect
    • Employment implications
      • Productivity loss
      • Employment loss
    • Premature Mortality to other personnel: i.e involved in fight, drunk driving etc

Capture

Image obtained from this report: Alcohol Consumption in Canada – a report by Chief Public Health Officer

These were some interesting points that I found. Now the next steps would be to figure out how to manage these costs and weigh the impact accordingly.

Information collected from:

  1. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1010001201
  2. http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/publications/department-ministere/state-public-health-alcohol-2015-etat-sante-publique-alcool/alt/state-phac-alcohol-2015-etat-aspc-alcool-eng.pdf
  3. https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1747-597X-4-20
  4. https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/report-alcohol-hospitalizations-en-web.pdf

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