Over half of Canadians 15 years and older are drinking more than government-recommended guidelines say is safe, according to a new report. A Canadian Medical Association Journal article said that 57 percent of Canadians 15 years and older drink more than the recommended amount based on the 2023 Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health. Additionally, numbers from a 2021 survey found about 18 percent of people 15 years and older “meet the clinical criteria for an alcohol use disorder (AUD) in their lifetime,” the Oct. 16 article said.
According to the government guide, three or more “standard drinks” per week comes with a “moderate” level of health risk, while more than six drinks a week is a “high risk.” Health risks of higher alcohol consumption include cancer, heart disease, and liver disease, the guide says. “Alcohol consumption in Canada is markedly higher than the global average and above the median for high-income countries,” the article authors wrote. The authors also noted that alcohol use and AUD represent “major contributions to ill health in Canada, with research suggesting that more than 200 health consequences, including injuries and fatalities, are attributable to alcohol use.”
Yet, the article says, “evidence-informed interventions for AUD have not been widely implemented in Canada.” They noted it could be attributed to “structural problems such as stigma and lack of health care provider training.” “Although national statistics are lacking, studies from Canadian provinces have shown that less than two percent of eligible patients receive evidence-based alcohol pharmacotherapies,” the authors wrote. They created a “national treatment guideline” to help assist doctors, policymakers, and others affected by alcohol use. “The major aim is to promote the use of evidence-based interventions to reduce alcohol-related harms,” the article said. The authors have created a list of 15 recommendations that advocate for improved consideration based on “the social determinants of health and incorporating harm reduction-, trauma- and violence-informed practice and culturally safe approaches as the standard of care for patients and families affected by alcohol use, high-risk drinking and AUD.”
The recommendations were developed with “a broad range of expertise,” the article authors said.
In March, scientists from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research published a paper after they reviewed over 100 cohort studies, with about 5 million participants, examining whether health benefits thought to be attributed to alcohol might be due to other factors. “Light and moderate drinkers are systematically healthier than current abstainers on a range of health indicators unlikely to be associated with alcohol use,” the study authors wrote. Moreover, another study published in JAMA Network on July 28 found that the number of women dying from alcohol-related conditions is on the rise. Researchers found that between 2018 and 2020, women’s alcohol-related mortality rate increased by 14.7 percent, while the mortality rate among men increased by 12.5 percent. George Citroner and Jane Nguyen contributed to this report.