The north-west and Tyneside have the highest level of alcohol-related illness in England, a map of hospital admissions reveals today. The pattern of accidents and illness related to alcohol comes on the day another report warns that the recession is driving more people to drink.

Liverpool, according to the health information firm CHKS, tops the table while the Isle of Wight has the lowest number of patients whose conditions are connected to excessive consumption.

The distribution of illness has a north-south divide. Based on 152 primary care trusts last year, the highest admissions rates for alcohol illness are in northern trusts. The top 17 include Liverpool, Blackpool, Newcastle, Blackburn, ­Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent and Salford, while the bottom 35 trusts are all south of Suffolk, including Berkshire, Harrow, Westminster, Bedfordshire and Mid-Essex, as well as the Isle of Wight.

The spread is also large. The national average for alcohol-related admissions was 103 cases per 10,000 people; in Liverpool it was 161, and on the Isle of Wight it was 47.

Out of a total of 13.5 million trust admissions to hospital in England in 2008, 525,000 were alcohol-related, accounting for almost 4%. This does not include out-patient treatments and is therefore an understatement of the overall burden on the health service.

CHKS used analysis to weight each of 49 categories of diagnosis according to how far it was attributable to alcohol; alcoholic cardiomyopathy and ethanol poisoning, for example, were entirely due to drinking; by contrast, 50% of chronic liver disease cases, 35% of road accidents, and 25% of falling injuries were assessed as linked to alcohol.

The survey is released to coincide with the start of the annual NHS Confederation conference, by coincidence, held in Liverpool. The research found no direct correlation between alcohol admissions and social deprivation. For example, in inner-city London Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Lambeth were among the bottom 35 trusts; but Bournemouth and Poole, Hastings and Rother, Great Yarmouth and ­Torbay were in the top quarter .

The figures could, perhaps, be skewed by teetotal Muslim communities in London and holiday drinking in resorts.

Paul Robinson, head of market intelligence at CHKS, said he did not believe the disparities could be put down to varying clinical descriptions employed by doctors around the country.

"There's a public health message here," he said. "It's also about local licensing regulations.

"It's about culture and behaviour and how you get the message across to the local population. There's clearly a north-south divide, but also other places near each other with large differences, like Plymouth (98 alcohol-related cases per 10,000) and Torbay (135)."

According to NHS statistics last month, 73% of men and 57% of women reported drinking alcohol on at least one day the previous week. As many as 13% of men and 7% of women reported drinking every day.

In a separate study, the charity Drinkaware revealed that almost half of those recently made redundant admitted they were drinking more during the day than when they were working.

Chris Sorek, the head of Drinkaware, said: "Losing your job is recognised as one of the top 10 most stressful life events, and many people turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism. But alcohol is a depressant and can lead to further stress and anxiety, which can make the effects of redundancy much worse."