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Redefining “alcohol related deaths” will mislead public, say campaigners

BMJ 2017; 359 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j4982 (Published 27 October 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;359:j4982
  1. Nigel Hawkes
  1. London

UK campaigners against alcohol have attacked the Office for National Statistics for redefining deaths related to alcohol use in a way that will reduce the numbers and, they say, mislead the public.

An editorial in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology says that the narrower definition adopted by ONS “could come at a steep cost to alcohol advocacy efforts and to the health and well-being of those affected by alcohol misuse and addiction in the UK.”1

The effect of the new definition will be to exclude from the count two conditions hitherto included: chronic unspecified hepatitis, which is coded K73 in ICD-10 (international classification of diseases, 10th …

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