Expected Years of Life Lost Due to Alcohol Consumption in Thai Adults: A 16-Year Follow-Up Cohort of National Health Examination Survey 2004-2019.

Aims Evidence of premature death attributable to alcohol, a modifiable risk factor, is crucial for guiding public health policy for alcohol control. The aim of this study was to estimate alcohol-related mortality and potential years of life lost (PYLL) in Thailand in 2004-2019. Methods We analysed data of the third National Health Examination Survey in 2004 linked to National Death Registry data of 2004-2019. Causes of death were based on International Classification of Diseases version 10. PYLL was calculated by cause of death, age group and sex. All analyses were weighted to take into account the probabilities for the multi-stage sampling of the 2004 Thai population aged >= 15 years. Results There were 10,704 deaths with a follow-up time of 507,771.7 person-years. The crude mortality rate of the initial sample was 868.6 per 100,000 population. The mortality rate attributable to alcohol was 18.6 per 100,000 population (30.7 per 100,000 population in males and 6.8 per 100,000 population in females). The top leading cause of alcohol-attributable deaths was unspecified liver diseases in both males and females (6.1 and 3.1 per 100,000 population, respectively). The total years of life lost (YLL) at baseline were 9.4 million years or 49.5 years per person on average, with significantly more years in males. Mortality rate and expected YLL were highest in ages of 30-44 years, followed by 15-29 years. Conclusion Males were 4-fold more likely to die from all alcohol-attributable causes compared with females. Young adults had a greater loss of life years than older adults. Short Summary: Alcohol-related mortality and potential years of life lost in Thailand were substantial, with highest alcohol-attributable deaths from unspecified liver diseases, intentional self-harm injuries, cardiac arrhythmia and ischemic heart diseases. Our findings have considerable implications for reinforcing public health policies aiming to reduce alcohol consumption and its adverse consequences.