Despite a higher-than-average number of abstainers and low-risk drinkers, alcohol misuse continues to cause harm, especially to the health of people in the district and remains a priority for action, a new report reveals.

Local Alcohol Profiles for England provides data for a total of 326 local authority areas, across 24 health, crime and prevalence indicators, and ranks them in order of performance with one being the best and 326 the worst.

Data for the Bradford district places it 18th out of 326 for the number of abstainers and 27th for the percentage of higher-risk drinkers – both in the top ten per cent in the country.

The number of binge drinkers, alcohol-specific hospital admissions for under-18s and alcohol-related crime are all also lower than average.

In an analysis of the data, Nina Smith, programme lead (alcohol and drugs) at Bradford Council, said since the publication of the Bradford District Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy in 2008, trends had been contrasting.

While alcohol-attributable deaths for men have shown an impressive decline from 58.9 per 100,000 population, to 34, and an improvement in rank from 315th to 174th, alcohol-specific deaths for women have increased by 11.5 per cent (from 5.56 per 100,00 of population to 6.2).

Alcohol-related hospital admissions have also more than doubled, although it is unclear if this is partially due to better recording.

There has been a drop in the number of alcohol-related recorded crimes, giving the district an improved ranking of 220th from 274th; an improvement in rank from 252nd to 137th for the amount of alcohol-related violent crime; and an improvement in rank from 260th to 210th in the rate of alcohol-related sexual crimes.

In comparison to the data for Yorkshire and Humber, Bradford’s performance was worse on 13 indicators, equal on four indicators and better on seven.

Andrew O’Shaughnessy, consultant in public health at NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds, said: “In Bradford and Airedale 92,000 people drink at hazardous levels and 17,000 of these at harmful levels and this data shows that alcohol misuse continues to cause a range of problems, especially health problems, locally.

“It also reinforces the need for us to support people to know about how drinking too much poses risks to their health and how they can take control of their drinking.

“There is an increasing range of practical support and advice on offer across the district to people with alcohol problems, and we have consistently maintained high numbers of people in alcohol treatment and we are committed to making every effort to engage those who are using our services.”

For alcohol treatment, advice and information, call 0845 0508465 or visit bradfordrecoverysystem.org.uk, or contact the Piccadilly Project on (01274) 735775 or Project 6 (Keighley ) on (01535) 610180.

To see the full profile, visit lape.org.uk