Dobson emphasises the need for early interventions and more effective preventive measures to protect health in the UK.1 Deaths from alcoholism continue to grow, with England seeing a rise of 56% in deaths solely due to alcohol from 5306 in 2015 to 8276 in 2023.2 Similarly, England and Wales have seen a 46% rise in deaths related to diabetes, from 5582 to 8137 in the same period.3 Alcoholism, malnutrition, and diabetes can lead to serious life threatening conditions, such as ketoacidosis, which can lead to multiple organ failure and death. Data for malnutrition are unknown.At the Toxicology Unit at Imperial College London, we conduct toxicological analyses for the coroners. Corresponding to the rise in alcohol and diabetes related deaths, the unit has seen a marked rise in ketoacidosis that could be associated with death in postmortem cases—81% between 2015 (85 of 2035 cases, 4.2%) and 2023 (156 of 2066 cases,…
