One in 20 deaths in Scotland could be alcohol-related, twice the number previously thought, comprehensive new figures revealed yesterday.

They also showed that drink is a factor in one death every three hours, and in the deaths of one in every four men aged between 35 and 44.

The extraordinary statistics immediately prompted a fresh debate over the SNP's plans to introduce alcohol minimum pricing. Supporters said they demonstrated the “growing need” for the proposal, but critics said the country's drink problem was more complex and required a wider-ranging approach.

The figures were published yesterday by the NHS in what is said to the first study of its kind in Scotland.

The study identified 53 separate causes of death linked to alcohol use, some of which had not previously been taken into account, including cancers, suicides, assaults and road accidents. When researchers mapped all of these conditions against death figures for 2003, they discovered that there had been 2,882 deaths related to alcohol that year. The new figure - which works out at 55 deaths per week, and eight per day - is almost double the former estimate of just 1,525, calculated by adding together deaths from illnesses caused almost entirely by alcohol consumption alone.

More than a thousand of the 2,882 deaths were of people aged under 55, while one in 10 of all deaths of people aged between 35 and 44 were due to alcoholic liver disease.

Overall, men were more at risk of dying than women, with 6.8 per cent of all male deaths being alcohol-attributable compared with 3.3 per cent for women.

Younger age groups were found to be most affected by alcohol, with one in four men and one in five women aged between 35 and 44 dying from a drink-related death.

Below the age of 35, alcohol-attributable deaths were most likely to occur from the acute consequences of drink consumption, including self-harm and road accidents. Beyond the age of 35, chronic diseases including mental and behavioural disorders related to alcohol use, alcoholic liver disease and breast cancer.

The study also revealed that there had been about 41,400 people discharged from hospital due to alcohol consumption, or more than one in 20 of all patients over the age of 16.

Shona Robison, the public health minister, said the figures supported the introduction of minimum pricing for alcohol.

The Nationalists are considering a minimum charge of about 40p per unit of alcohol, which would make the cheapest bottle of wine about £3.90, and a 2-litre bottle of white cider £6. Opponents believe the measure is neither workable or legal. They also argue it would punish moderate drinkers for the sake of targeting a minority of problem users.

“Week by week, there is growing support for minimum pricing of alcohol, and growing evidence of its need,” a spokesman for Ms Robison said.

“As the chief medical officer has made clear, we must tackle Scotland's £2.25 billion alcohol misuse problem and all the human misery it causes now.”

That view was backed by the British Medical Association, whose Scottish chairman, Dr Peter Terry, said: “Legislation on price is the only proven way to help change behaviour and end the heavy drinking culture that is blighting our health service.”

However, Mary Scanlon, health spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, dismissed the claims: “It is important in the light of these figures that the Scottish government stops relying on minimum pricing as a single tool solution. Alcohol addiction and drink bingeing is a complex problem, requiring a co-ordinated response.

“We urgently need better education about the harm which alcohol can cause and rehabilitation programmes based on abstinence and recovery.”

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, said too many people were drinking too much and harming their health.

“This research shows that alcohol misuse is taking an even higher toll on Scotland's health than previously thought,” she said.

“To have one in 20 Scots dying from alcohol-related causes is a truly shocking statistic.”

She said alcohol misuse “is the biggest public health challenge we face”, adding that the Scottish Government was “determined” to get to grips with the issue.

Drug users are being forced to wait for a year before they are assessed for treatment, health service figures showed yesterday.

About 22 per cent of 2,675 drug users were still waiting after 52 weeks by the end of March this year. The quarterly NHS figures also showed year-long waits for appointments for residential rehabilitation, community-based support, first interventions and prescribed drug treatments.

Fergus Ewing, the community safety minister, said funding has increased by 13.5 per cent to help reduce waiting times.

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