New Delhi: Deaths in India attributed to alcohol use will lead to a loss of at least 258 million life years between 2011 and 2050, and 1.45% of GDP each year, while the country might gain 552 million ‘quality-adjusted’ life years if alcohol's health and economic burden are contained, said a study by three Indian doctors and two public health researchers published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.The loss of life years will amount to 75 days of life per capita by the year 2050, the researchers concluded after examining and calculating the effects of three factors related to alcohol — liver disease , cancers and road accidents .The paper, titled ‘Health Impact and Economic Burden of Alcohol Consumption in India’, reflects the concerns that came through in the worrying findings of the recent national survey on the magnitude of substance use that showed that as many as 5.7 crore Indians required urgent help for alcohol use disorders. The national survey report was prepared by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of AIIMS for the ministry of social justice.The research paper said, "Discounting the future consequences at 3%, the number of life years lost due to alcohol consumption and quality-adjusted life years gained by eliminating alcohol in India would be 258 million and 552 million, respectively. It amounts to per capita loss of 75.60 discounted and 173.65 undiscounted days of life because of alcohol consumption in the general population by the year 2050." The undiscounted figures are higher but less relevant.These findings are part of a first of its kind analysis with the research looking at the long-term implications of alcohol use in India. The research is based on a wide range of government data sources like the National Sample Survey Office 2015, National Family Health Survey-4, Reserve Bank of India, health ministry statistics and WHO reports.The study does not advocate the prohibition of alcohol but focuses on the need for awareness, regulation of sale and prevention strategies. The research team comes from the Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh; and the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS in Delhi.It said even after tax receipts on sale of alcohol were adjusted for, alcohol-related health conditions would impose a net economic cost of Rs 97,895 billion ($1,506 billion) on Indian society by 2050. “This amounts to an average loss of 1.45% of GDP per year to the Indian economy,” it said.The study found that treatment of alcohol-related disease was estimated to impose an economic burden of Rs 3,127 billion ($48.11 billion) on the health system. The societal burden of alcohol, inclusive of health system cost, out of pocket expenditure and productivity losses was estimated at Rs 121,364 billion ($1,867 billion).“Indirect cost of alcohol consumption, which comprise economic loss due to premature mortality and reduced productivity, would be Rs 135,164 billion ($2,079 billion). Indirect costs account for 70% of the total cost attributed to alcohol consumption,” the report said.One of the researchers from NDDTC, AIIMS, Dr Atul Ambekar, said global evidence suggested that high and middle-income countries always spent more than 1% of their annual GDP on economic costs attributable to alcohol. “This cost turns out to be in the range of 2% for developing countries. Studies conducted in France, US, South Korea and Thailand have reported that economic cost attributable to alcohol use is in the range of 1.7%, 2.7%, 3.3% and 1.99% of the annual GDP. Our findings (1.45% of GDP) are comparable to these estimates,” he said.