Women in 30s 'alcohol deaths'

Researchers who found a rise in alcohol-related deaths among women in their 30s and 40s said it is "imperative this early warning sign is acted upon".

They said:

Read: Women in 30s 'alcohol deaths'

Researchers have analysed trends in deaths related to alcohol in Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester from the 1980s up to 2011 among people born between 1910 to 1979.

In the early 1980s, the rate of alcohol related deaths were three times as high in Glasgow as they were in Liverpool and Manchester, and they rose over the next three decades in all three cities, the study suggests.

Death rates stabilised in all three cities by the early 2000s, and fell during the latter part of the decade in all three - except from in women born during the 1970s.

The researchers said that unlike the men born at this time, women were dying from alcohol-related causes at a much earlier age than women born earlier than 1970, and in "notable numbers" during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

There has been a "worrying" increase in the number of women in their 30s and 40s who are dying from alcohol misuse in the UK, a new study suggests.

Although there is a downward national trend in the number of alcohol-related deaths in England and Scotland, the number of deaths of women born in the 1970s has "disproportionately increased" since the middle of the last decade, researchers claim.

The study, published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, focused on Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester, all of which have similar levels of poor health and deprivation.

They have urged health officials to view the figures as a "warning signal".