Alcohol-attributed disease burden in four Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017: Are the gender gaps narrowing? A comparison using the Global Burden of Disease, Injury and Risk Factor 2017 study

Emilie E Agardh¹, Peter Allebeck¹, Pär Flodin¹, Peter Wennberg², Mats Ramstedt^{3

4}, Ann Kristin Knudsen^{5

6}, Simon Øverland^{5

6}, Jonas Minet Kinge^{5

7

8}, Mette C Tollånes⁹, Terje A Eikemo¹⁰, Jens Christoffer Skogen^{11

12

13}, Pia Mäkelä¹⁴, Mika Gissler^{15

16}, Knud Juel¹⁷, Kim Moesgaard Iburg¹⁸, John J McGrath^{19

20

21}, Mohsen Naghavi²², Stein Emil Vollset²², Emmanuela Gakidou²², Anna-Karin Danielsson¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Centre for Disease Burden, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
⁶ Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁷ Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁸ Department of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
⁹ Norwegian Organization for Quality Improvement of Laboratory Examinations, Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
¹⁰ Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
¹¹ Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
¹² Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway.
¹³ Alcohol and Drug Research Western Norway, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway.
¹⁴ Alcohol and Drugs Unit, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinkim, Finland.
¹⁵ Information Services Department, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁶ Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁷ National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁸ Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹⁹ National Center for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
²⁰ Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
²¹ Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, The Park Centre for Mental Health, Brisbane, Australia.
²² Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

PMID: 33210443
PMCID: PMC7983874
DOI: 10.1111/dar.13217

Alcohol-attributed disease burden in four Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017: Are the gender gaps narrowing? A comparison using the Global Burden of Disease, Injury and Risk Factor 2017 study

Emilie E Agardh et al. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2021 Mar.

. 2021 Mar;40(3):431-442.

doi: 10.1111/dar.13217. Epub 2020 Nov 18.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Centre for Disease Burden, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
⁶ Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁷ Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁸ Department of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
⁹ Norwegian Organization for Quality Improvement of Laboratory Examinations, Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
¹⁰ Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
¹¹ Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
¹² Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway.
¹³ Alcohol and Drug Research Western Norway, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway.
¹⁴ Alcohol and Drugs Unit, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinkim, Finland.
¹⁵ Information Services Department, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁶ Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁷ National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁸ Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹⁹ National Center for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
²⁰ Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
²¹ Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, The Park Centre for Mental Health, Brisbane, Australia.
²² Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

PMID: 33210443
PMCID: PMC7983874
DOI: 10.1111/dar.13217

Abstract

Introduction and aims: The gender difference in alcohol use seems to have narrowed in the Nordic countries, but it is not clear to what extent this may have affected differences in levels of harm. We compared gender differences in all-cause and cause-specific alcohol-attributed disease burden, as measured by disability-adjusted life-years (DALY), in four Nordic countries in 2000-2017, to find out if gender gaps in DALYs had narrowed.

Design and methods: Alcohol-attributed disease burden by DALYs per 100 000 population with 95% uncertainty intervals were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease database.

Results: In 2017, all-cause DALYs in males varied between 2531 in Finland and 976 in Norway, and in females between 620 in Denmark and 270 in Norway. Finland had the largest gender differences and Norway the smallest, closely followed by Sweden. During 2000-2017, absolute gender differences in all-cause DALYs declined by 31% in Denmark, 26% in Finland, 19% in Sweden and 18% in Norway. In Finland, this was driven by a larger relative decline in males than females; in Norway, it was due to increased burden in females. In Denmark, the burden in females declined slightly more than in males, in relative terms, while in Sweden the relative decline was similar in males and females.

Discussion and conclusions: The gender gaps in harm narrowed to a different extent in the Nordic countries, with the differences driven by different conditions. Findings are informative about how inequality, policy and sociocultural differences affect levels of harm by gender.

Keywords: Nordic countries; alcohol; disease burden; global burden of disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Overall and cause‐specific alcohol‐attributed disease burden by age‐standardised disability‐adjusted life‐years rates per 100 000 by males and females in the Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017.

**Figure 2**
Absolute and relative gender differences in overall alcohol‐attributed disease burden by age‐standardised disability‐adjusted life‐years rates per 100 000 in the Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017.

**Figure 3**
Absolute gender differences in cause‐specific alcohol‐attributed disease burden by age‐standardised disability‐adjusted life‐years rates per 100 000 in the Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. GBD Compare ; Viz Hub. Available at: https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/# (accessed October 2019).
1. GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators . Alcohol use and burden in 195 countries and territories, 1990‐2016: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2016. Lancet 2018;392:1015–35. - PMC - PubMed
1. Erol A, Karpyak VM. Sex and gender‐related differences in alcohol use and its consequences: contemporary knowledge and future research considerations. Drug Alcohol Depend 2015;156:1–13. - PubMed
1. Bloomfield K, Gmel G, Wilsnack S. Introduction to special issue ‘gender, culture and alcohol problems: a multinational study’. Alcohol Alcohol Suppl 2006;41:i3–7. - PubMed
1. Kuntsche S, Gmel G, Knibbe RA et al. Gender and cultural differences in the association between family roles, social stratification, and alcohol use: a European cross‐cultural analysis. Alcohol Alcohol Suppl 2006;41:i37–46. - PubMed

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Alcohol-attributed disease burden in four Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017: Are the gender gaps narrowing? A comparison using the Global Burden of Disease, Injury and Risk Factor 2017 study

Affiliations

Alcohol-attributed disease burden in four Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017: Are the gender gaps narrowing? A comparison using the Global Burden of Disease, Injury and Risk Factor 2017 study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources