Key Points

Consumption

• In 2017, the standardized prevalence of daily alcohol consumption among 18- to 75-year-olds in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region was 11.4% and was comparable to the average of other metropolitan regions.

• The prevalence of monthly heavy drinking episodes (6 or more drinks on a single occasion) was 16.3% in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region and was comparable to the average of other metropolitan regions.

Alcohol-related diseases and mortality

• Emergency room visits directly related to alcohol accounted for 1.15% of all emergency room visits in the region (vs. 1.38% for France as a whole).

• In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, the age-standardized incidence rate per 100,000 person-years over the 2007–2016 period for:

  • cancers of the lips, mouth, and pharynx was 5.6 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur among women (higher than the national average) and 18.3 among men (lower than the national average);

  • esophageal cancer was 1.3 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur among women (not different from the national average) and 5.9 among men (lower than the national average).

• In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, the age-standardized mortality rate for the main diseases directly linked to alcohol was 11.7 among women and 39.7 among men per 100,000 person-years over the 2013–2015 period, comparable to or slightly lower than the national rate.

Prevention

• Two innovative and symbolic alcohol prevention initiatives are being implemented in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region: one focuses on risk and harm reduction through the Santé! association, and the other on therapeutic education for alcohol-dependent individuals.