Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Is Highest In The North Of The UK, New Health Map Shows

Places in the UK with the highest rates of people admitted to hospital for alcohol-related liver disease have been mapped out by health officials, in a bid to "paint a powerful picture of one of the many impacts that alcohol has on patients and the NHS in this country."

The North West and the North East were pinpointed to be the places with the highest hospital admissions, according to the map created by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire had the lowest emergency admission rates for the condition which refers to liver damage caused by alcohol misuse.

Death rates linked to alcohol-related liver disease have risen "considerably" over the last few decades, according to the NHS.

Health service guidance suggests the most effective way to prevent the condition is to stop drinking or stick to the recommended daily limits, with at least two alcohol-free days a week.

Nationally hospitals admitted 10,500 cases of alcohol-related liver disease between April 2013 and March 2014, according to HSCIC.

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The map shows rates of regional emergency admissions for every 100,000 people living in each area during this timeframe.

The place with the highest rate of admissions was Greater Manchester where 45.8 people out of every 100,000 living in the region were admitted as an emergency.

In Merseyside there were 41.3 admissions per every 100,000 people and in Lancashire there were 38.9 admissions per 100,000 of the population.

The places with the lowest rates of admissions were Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire where hospitals in the regions admitted 14.7 people out of every 100,000 people.

HSCIC chairman Kingsley Manning said: "This map paints a powerful picture of one of the many impacts that alcohol has on patients and the NHS in this country."

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7 Things To Know About Women And Alcohol

1. More Women Are Binge Drinking(01 of07)

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates released earlier this year, nearly 14 million women in the U.S. binge drink roughly three times a month. For women, binge drinking is defined as having four or more drinks in a single period, but most women average six drinks per binge. Women with a household incomes above $75,000 are more likely to binge, as are women age 18 to 34 and in high school. According to the CDC, 1 in 5 teenage girls binge drink, a behavior that poses serious health risks, including unintentional injuries, alcohol poisoning, liver disease and stroke, among others. (credit:Getty)

2. Women Drink "Less Well" Than Men(02 of07)

Women's bodies tolerate alcohol differently than men's for reasons that are not yet fully understood, Slate explains. It may be that the hormone estrogen interacts with alcohol in a way that increases the risk for liver problems, Slate says, or it could be due to differences in stomach enzymes. Plus, as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) points out, women's bodies have less water per pound than men's. If a man and woman who weigh the same amount drink the same amount of alcohol, the woman will likely have a higher blood alcohol concentration, because alcohol disperses in water and her body has less. (credit:Getty)

3. Drinking Becomes Problematic For Women At Lower Levels ...(03 of07)

Largely because women's bodies tolerate alcohol differently than men's, they're more likely to be at risk for alcohol-related problems. Those risks include specific health diseases and conditions, such as liver disease, heart disease and breast cancer, as well as alcohol dependence. The NIAAA defines the "low-risk" drinking limit as no more than seven drinks per week for women, and no more than three drinks in any one sitting. For men, it's no more than 14 drinks per week, and four drinks in any one day. (credit:Getty)

4. ... But They Seek Treatment Sooner(04 of07)

As HuffPost's Amanda Chan previously reported, a new study released earlier this summer, which included more than 500 males and females, found that women who abuse alcohol tend to seek out help four to five years earlier than their male counterparts. Why that is, isn't exactly clear at this point, although in a statement, Rosemary Fama (a senior research scientist at Stanford University, who did not work on the study) hypothesized that women may attach less social stigma to drinking problems than men, and therefore may be more likely to report theirs, according to HealthDay. (credit:Getty)

5. During Pregnancy, No Amount Has Been Proven Safe(05 of07)

A new book "Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong and What You really Need To Know" has made waves for challenging many of the beliefs women and their doctors have long held, among them, that drinking during pregnancy is strictly off limits. Occasional drinking may not pose any danger, concludes author Emily Oster, an economist who was inspired to analyze the existing scientific literature when she became pregnant. But the fact remains that no amount of alcohol during pregnancy has been proven to be safe. In other words, there exists no clearly defined threshold at which experts can say alcohol consumption is safe, which is why most advise simply avoiding it altogether. (credit:Getty)

6. Drinking Ups Breast Cancer Risk(06 of07)

"The use of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer," the American Cancer Society warns -- and that risk increases with the more alcohol a woman consumes. For example, a woman who sips only one drink a day has a very small increase in overall risk, the ACS explains, whereas a woman who has up to five drinks a day has roughly one-and-a-half times the risk of a woman who doesn't drink at all. That said, drinking is hardly the only risk factor for the disease -- there are many others that contribute, including a woman's lifestyle and her genes. (credit:Getty)

7. Alcoholism May Be Deadlier In Women(07 of07)

A German study published last year concluded that alcohol dependence is twice as deadly for women as for men. The death rate for alcohol-dependent women was four times that of a sample of comparable, non-addicted, 18- to 64-year-old women, but only double for men. While the "why" is unclear, the research is in line with other studies suggesting the effect of alcohol on women is "particularly harsh," CASAColumbia's vice president and director of policy research and analysis told HuffPost. (credit:Getty)

Jackie Ballard, chief executive of charity Alcohol Concern, said: "These figures show that the problems caused by alcohol misuse are continuing to put an increasing strain on our NHS.

"More than half of those who drink do so at risky levels and these figures show it isn't just binge drinking youngsters but middle-aged, and often middle class drinkers who are regularly drinking above recommended limits. It's this regular drinking of a bit too much too often that stores up all sorts of health problems.

"Unless we start taking this seriously and acknowledge the health problems too much alcohol can cause, the situation will only get worse."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We are taking action to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and to give people better information about the impact drinking can have on health.

"To help tackle regional variations in emergency admissions for alcohol related liver disease, we've given local authorities £8.2 billion in ring-fenced funding over three years so they can address issues like alcohol misuse in their areas."

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