The latest research shows that heavy drinking can “kill you quicker than smoking” and poses a greater risk to woman than men.

The groundbreaking,14-year-long study shows that alcoholics die 20 years sooner on average than the general population. The findings indicated that people dependent on alcohol also live shorter lives on average than smokers.

Academics in Germany spent more than a decade gathering data from 149 adults with alcohol problems.

They found that the death rate among alcohol-dependent women was 4.6 times higher than average.The death rate for men with alcohol problems was almost double the level for men who did not rely on drink.

The study differed from others in its field because it looked at the impact of alcohol dependency over a long period. Other research highlighted the dangers of excessive alcohol, but these findings were largely based on clinical trials.

Professor Ulrich John, of University Medicine Greifswald, said: “Clinical data have revealed a higher proportion of individuals who have died than among the general population of the same age.

“Gender-specific data are rare, even among clinical samples. Furthermore, these studies have two main limitations.

“First, we know that only a minority of alcohol dependent individuals receive treatment of this disorder, but we lack knowledge about how this selection occurs.

“Second, we have no evidence about potential effects of specialised alcoholism treatment on mortality among people who had been diagnosed as alcohol dependent.

“We would like to know whether treatment might enhance survival time.

“For ethical reasons, no controlled trials are possible.

“Thus, longitudinal descriptive data as in this study are helpful.”

The people involved in the study were aged between 18 and 64.

Professor John said: “First, we found that annualised death rates were 4.6-fold higher for females and 1.9-fold higher for males compared to the age- and gender-specific general population.

“Second, we found that the mean age at death was 60 for females and 58 for males, both of which are about 20 years lower than the mean age at death among the general population.

“None of the deceased had reached the age of life expectancy.”

Controversially, Professor John also said that the findings appeared to show drinking could cause early death more frequently than smoking.

“Furthermore, drinking can also contribute to other risky behaviours such as smoking, becoming overweight, and obesity.

“Alcohol is a dangerous product and should be consumed only within guidelines.”