Minimum Alcohol Pricing Could Help Save Pensioner Lives in England

A BBC Panorama commissioned research has found that bringing a minimum alcohol pricing in England could help save more than 50,000 pensioner lives over the next decade. The study was conducted by researchers at Sheffield University who said that introducing a minimum alcohol pricing similar to the 50p a unit in Scotland could save the lives of more than 50,000 pensioners as it could drastically reduce the number of the elderly indulging in heavy drinking.

According to recent figures, more than 1.4 million older people in Britain are heavy drinkers, leading to a 62 percent rise in the number of pensioners who required hospital admissions over the last five years.

Queen Alexandra Hospital’s Dr Richard Aspinall said that a large majority of the people, who drink in their homes, slowly increase the intake of alcohol. “We think of a very visible social disorder, consequences of young people binge drinking on a Saturday night in our town centres, but what is much more hidden is quiet, below-the-radar drinking at home”, he said.

Source-Medindia