Rise in Scots suffering alcohol-related brain damage

Published on Sunday 7 September 2008 22:20

INCREASING numbers of Scots are literally drinking themselves senseless, according to new figures released yesterday.

A total of 540 Scots were discharged from hospitals with alcohol-related brain damage in 2006-7 – a rise of 16 per cent on the last figure, taken in 2003-4, of 463.

More than a third of cases came from Greater Glasgow, with 202, up from 179 in 2003-4. The west of Scotland now has the highest rate of people suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome in western Europe.

Alcohol-related brain damage is an umbrella term for a number of conditions, and Korsakoff's syndrome is the primary one. The condition is the result of vitamin B deficiency from years of alcohol abuse and not eating properly. It causes large-scale memory loss and is classed as a form of dementia. Although cutting out alcohol can stop further deterioration, existing damage can never be reversed.

Most sufferers, once diagnosed, require a high level of care for the rest of their lives.

In the Lothians, hospitals discharged 79 people with alcohol-related brain damage in 2006-7, up from 54 in 2003-4. In Tayside, the figure grew from 27 to 42 and in Lanarkshire, there was an increase of 35 to 46. NHS Fife reported more than a doubling of alcohol-related brain damage patients, from 16 in 2003-4 to 36 in 2006-7.

One health board showed a marked reduction. NHS Forth Valley had 21 patients in 2003-4, but just 11 in 2006-7.

Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon, whose parliamentary question revealed the figures, said: "The increase in people suffering from alcohol-related brain disease shows the hidden effect of Scotland's dangerous relationship with alcohol."

She added: "The Scottish Parliament needs to address the issue of the growing number who are causing themselves irreversible brain damage through alcohol abuse."