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Sign in or register for an accountAlcohol consumption is common across society in the UK, while at the same time being the biggest risk factor for death, ill-health and disability among those aged 15-49, and the fifth biggest risk factor across all ages. Deaths directly due to alcohol consumption are avoidable through behavioural change which makes it a particularly relevant topic for public health interventions.
There has been an increase in interest in reducing or abstaining from alcohol consumption in recent years, particularly among young people. Despite this, the number of alcohol units consumed in England per week has not changed significantly over the last decade, and there has been an upward trend in alcohol-specific deaths in England since 2020.
Aside from mortality, alcohol consumption is also a significant contributor to admissions to hospital and there is a separate Core JSSNA summary that focuses specifically on alcohol-related hospital admissions in Salford.
The line chart below shows the trend in deaths from alcohol-specific conditions per 100,00 people in Salford, Greater Manchester, and England between 2015 and 2024, in three year aggregates.
[Download the alcohol specific mortality (three year aggregates) chart data, csv format, 1kb]
As the chart shows, the rate of alcohol-specific mortality in Salford increased during the three year periods beginning in 2018 and fell slightly in the three year period between 2021 and 2023. For all of the period between 2015 and 2024, with the exception of 2018-2020 when it was statistically similar, the rate of alcohol-specific mortality in Salford has been higher than the England rate. It has been similar to or higher than the rate for Greater Manchester since the three year period beginning in 2020, before which it was generally lower than the rate for Greater Manchester.
Using primary care mortality data, it is also possible to examine the alcohol-specific mortality rates for smaller areas within Salford. The chart below shows the age standardised rates of alcohol-specific mortality per 100,000 people for Salford wards during the latest full decade for which data is available (2016 to 2025).
As the chart shows, there is variation in the rate of alcohol-specific deaths across Salford wards. However, the overlapping confidence intervals for many Salford wards (shown by the black error bars next to the mortality rate for each ward) mean that it is difficult to be certain that most of the differences are statistically significant. There is, however, a significant difference between the Salford ward with the lowest rate of alcohol-specific deaths (Boothstown and Ellenbrook) and the wards with the two highest rates (Weaste and Seedley and Pendleton and Charlestown). In each of Quays, Ordsall and Blackfriars and Trinity wards, the total number of alcohol-specific deaths was less than ten in the period from 2016 to 2025, and as a result no reliable comparison for statistical significance can be made.
Levels of deprivation also have a significant correlation with alcohol-specific mortality. The alcohol-specific death rate in the UK is more than three times higher for people living in the most deprived fifth of local areas than for people in the least deprived fifth of local areas (35.6 compared with 10.0 deaths per 100,000). In Salford, ranking the ward-level chart of alcohol-specific mortality on the previous page alongside best-fit deprivation data from the 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation shows that Boothstown and Ellenbrook ward has both the lowest levels of deprivation and alcohol-specific mortality, while Pendleton and Charlestown ward is the second highest ward in both rankings.
There is a significant gender difference in mortality rates from alcohol both in Salford and nationally. In Salford, over the period between 2016 and 2025, the alcohol-specific mortality rate for males (21.8 per 100,000) was more than double that for females (10.3 per 100,000). Nationally, in 2023 the UK alcohol-specific death rate was also twice as high for men than for women (21.9 deaths per 100,000 compared with 10.3).
Heavy drinkers, defined by the Nuffield Trust as men who drink more than 50 units of alcohol per week and women who drink more than 35 units per week, tend to be older, and their average age has increased over the past ten years. In 2012, 12% of heavy drinkers were people over 65, while in 2022 people over 65 accounted for 21% of heavy drinkers. Heavy drinking can worsen conditions associated with age, and older heavy drinkers are more likely to have accidents.
The Chief Medical Officer guidelines on alcohol consumption state that to keep health risks from alcohol to a low level it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis. This should be spread out over at least three days ideally with several drink-free days each week.
For those who may have become dependent on alcohol and experience symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, the aim should be to gradually reduce alcohol consumption rather than stopping suddenly, regaining control of drinking behaviour and managing withdrawal symptoms.
It some cases it may be appropriate for health and care professionals to ask patients about alcohol consumption and provide brief and advice and support, as well as providing direction to trusted sources of information and signposting to local specialist services.