Medical conditions and social harms related to alcohol consumption

Consumption of alcohol is related to over 60 medical conditions. Alcohol consumption additionally increases the risk of a wide range of social harms, such as crimes and injuries (Rehm et al., 2003). Drinking during pregnancy increases the risk of spontaneous abortion and harms the development of the unborn child. For some conditions (such as cardiomyopathy, acute respiratory distress syndrome and muscle damage), the harm seems to stem from a sustained level of high alcohol consumption. Even at this high level, if the volume of consumption increases, the risk of harm increases even further. Below is an overview of the harms related to alcohol consumption (Anderson & Baumberg, 2006).

• impaired social well-being (negative social consequences; reduced work performance);
• intentional and unintentional injuries (violence; drinking and driving; injuries; suicide);
• neuropsychiatric conditions (anxiety and sleep disorders; depression; alcohol dependence; nerve damage; brain damage; cognitive impairment and dementia);
• gastrointestinal, metabolic and endocrine conditions (liver cirrhosis; pancreatitis; type II diabetes; overweight; gout),
• cancers (gastrointestinal tract; liver; breast);
• cardiovascular diseases (hypertension; stroke; irregularities in heart rhythms; coronary heart disease (CHD); cardiomyopathy);
• impaired immune system (susceptibility to infectious diseases),
• lung diseases (increased risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS));
• post-operative complications;
• skeletal conditions (fracture and muscle disease); and
• reproductive conditions.

• negative social consequences (such as being kept awake at night by drunk people);
• violence and crime (such as violence directed at strangers or spouse abuse);
• marital harm (such as separation or divorce);
• child abuse;
• work-related harm;
• drinking and driving; and
• pre-natal conditions (such as spontaneous abortion or intellectual deficits).