Tuesday 30 June 2009

More fun with fake statistics ...

From today's BBC:

Alcohol may have caused the death of twice as many Scots as previously thought, an NHS study has found. Researchers used a new method of calculating alcohol-related deaths which is said to more accurately reflect the damage done by drinking. They estimated that 2,882 deaths - one in every 20 - could be attributed to alcohol in 2003...

Pathetic performance, frankly!

Back in April, they had already claimed that the number of 'alcohol-induced deaths' was "up to five times the official figure". T'would be joyous indeed if the BBC ran a headline saying something along the lines of "Previous wild over-estimate of alcohol-related* deaths now revised down by sixty per cent".

* I accept that there are distinctions to be drawn between alcohol-induced and alcohol-related, but let's not split hairs.

9 comments:

BTS said...

I'm wondering when they will finally concede that 100% of deaths are caused by birth..?

Macheath said...

BTS - At about the same time as they stop announcing initiatives aimed at reducing the mortality rate.

I wonder how many quangos and fake charities sprang into action when the 'five times the official figure' guesstimate was published in April and how much taxpayers will have to fork out as a result.

Statistics and medicine are an unstable blend and should only be combined in the hands of an expert. Consider the true story of the GP who justified a serious misdiagnosis with "97% of sufferers are obese, so your chances of having cancer were 3%.

Hairy Arsed Bloke said...

So ..... 95% of deaths have no relation to alcohol whatsoever.

Pogo said...

More to the point, there /were/ reckoning that 1 in 10 deaths worldwide was "alcohol-related". The scots as a nation are amongst the biggest piss-artists on the planet and only 1 in 20 of them dies from it. This means that either (a) the scots have a genetic resistance to the effects of alcohol, or (b) you live longer if you're pissed.

Maybe. :-)

Ross said...

If the researchers were themselves Scottish then isn't it likely that they were just seeing double?

BTS said...

Ross, well played..

RantinRab said...

Itsh a load a pish so it ish. A love you, you ma beshetsht pal. Am starvin. Fancy a kebab? Ho you, whit you lukkin et, eh? Fuckin bam that ye are. Right ootside, square go.
*Falls on face*

Macheath said...

As Rab's comment amply demonstrates,the statistics don't tell the whole story.

Despite the national stereotype, Scotland has a large population of teetotal Presbyterians and other non-drinkers; to reach the average figures, a limited number of drinkers must be consuming superhuman quantities of alcohol.

Chris Gilmour said...

Alcohol deaths in 2003?

Six years ago?

And this is news why?