HIQA Publishes Protocol for Modelling Alcohol-Attributable Mortality and Hospitalisation to Inform Updated Irish Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines (hiqa.ie)

• HIQA to model alcohol-attributable mortality and hospitalisation risks to update Irish low-risk drinking guidelines.
• Protocol uses mortality (CSO) and hospitalisation (HIPE) data from 2022-2024.
• Expert Advisory Group including patient representatives and public health experts will review findings.
• Approach similar to recent updates in Australia, Canada, France, and the UK.

"HIQA has released a protocol for a mathematical modelling study to estimate the risk of alcohol-attributable mortality and hospital admission in Ireland, aiming to inform an update of the 2015 low-risk drinking guidelines. The protocol outlines data sources including mortality registers and hospital inpatient enquiry data from 2022-2024, and will use continuous dose-response risk functions for causally linked health conditions. An expert advisory group will review the work. The modelling approach follows similar recent updates in Australia, Canada, France, and the UK. The final report will provide risk estimates to guide guideline revision."