A SHOCK report into drinking in the south-east has revealed that women in Thanet are more likely to die from drink-related causes than anywhere else in Kent.

Choosing Health in the South East was produced by SEPHO, or the South East Public Health Organisation, to look at the state of drinking in the region.

More than 10 female deaths in 100,000 in Thanet are down to drink and Thanet is also worryingly at the top of Kent in other aspects.

In terms of alcohol-related admissions to hospital, where each person is only counted once, Thanet is 60 per cent above the national average. This means that the concentration of repeat offenders in the district is much higher than others, standing at 850 per 100,000.

Alcohol is implicated in more than 17,500 hospital admissions a year in the South East, with the highest total rate in Hastings.

Thanet is also top in Kent for alcohol-related sex crime and alcohol-related crime in the NHS, including assaults on staff.

The report states: “Well over a million violent incidents every year are associated with alcohol, which fuels over a third of assaults and up to three-quarters of domestic violence.”

Young people are still the heaviest drinkers, with more than 42 per cent of men under-24 admitting drinking more than the recommended amount at least once a week.

The report adds: “This pattern casts a shadow over the future. It is likely that more people in this generation will develop

alcohol-related disease, and at a younger age, than their parents’ generation – and that more women will

be affected by the many health and social problems associated with drinking.

“Other very recent figures report a doubling of alcohol-related deaths in the last 15 years, and that trend looks set to continue.”

On a more positive note, the report states that the habit of binge-drinking among women seems to have peaked between 1998-2002, and is on the way down.

For full report on Thanet’s alcohol problem, see next week’s Isle of Thanet Extra.