Britain putting end to cheap happiness and fun

The Associate Press reported today that Britain is considering a ban on “happy hour” discounts at bars and restaurants to curb youth drinking. The ban could go as far as to include drinking games and speed-drinking events in pubs. Sorry, British people! No more cheap pints at the pub!

The British Liver Trust, a national charity for adults with liver disease, summarized the statistics released by the Office of National Statistics. Over 40% more young people aged 25-29 have been killed by liver disease than in previous years.

The figures, just released for the year 2006, also show an increase in deaths from alcoholic liver disease of almost 7% - to 4,450. There is also more confirmation of the worsening picture with increased deaths from liver disease overall, up by 5.7% to 7,281. With liver cancer and other liver-related conditions included, 38 people die of liver disease each day.

Trust spokeswoman Imogen Shilito explains that , “This is the progression of the epidemic we and the medical profession have been predicting for several years… These figures reinforce our call for urgent work to improve early diagnosis and encourage prevention.”

The Trust website reports that liver damage is

often silent, taking up to 15 years to develop, but when symptoms appear it is often too late. Hepatologists (liver specialist doctors) are regularly seeing people in their 20s and 30s with cirrhosis caused by alcohol in much higher numbers, cases they would in the past have seen in much older people, in their 40s and 50s.

I checked out the stats for the US and the most recent numbers are at the National Center for Health Statistics from 2005. In that year, the death rate for all liver disease was 9.0, with a total of 27,530 deaths. Alcoholic liver disease, or cirrhosis, comprised 12,928 deaths at a rate of 4.2. Side note: Interestingly, the death rate for men was almost triple that for women (12.4 and 5.8, respectively).

So how do we measure up? For overall death from liver disease, the US has a raw number almost four times as great as Britain (27,530 vs. 7,281), but according to the 2006 revision of the World Population Prospects from the UN, the population of the US is nearly five times as large as Britain (299,846 vs. 60,245). The US has more people, but Britain has a higher rate of death by liver disease. Yes, I’d agree that’s something to be worried about.

I don’t think the issue is completely cut and dry, though. It sounds like young people in Britain drink more, but we should also consider the fact that the drinking age is lower (18 more or less), and that Britain has different cultural attitudes about alcohol consumption.

Personally, I had no idea that “happy hour” was so prevalent in Britain… and I think I should visit before this potential ban occurs. I’ve been complaining recently/always about the cost of cocktails at bars, but I never thought that “happy hour” could be a public health concern. Guess I’ve got a lot to learn.