Alcohol-related death: a major contributor to mortality in urban middle-aged men.
The role of alcohol abuse in mortality was studied in an unselected population of over 10,000 46-48-year-old men in Malmö, Sweden. During follow-up of 0-6 years (mean 3 years) 199 men died. In 61 men (30.7%) death was alcohol related. A theoretical calculation of excess deaths in men with an alcohol-positive history yielded 78 deaths (39.2%). In the official cause of death statistics 10 of the deaths had been assigned alcoholic aetiology (5.0%). These estimates indicate that alcohol was the commonest underlying factor in death in this sample of middle-aged men. The number of deaths with alcoholic aetiology in official cause of death statistics should be multiplied by a factor of six to eight to arrive at the true alcohol-related death rate.
D000057:Accident Proneness; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D013548:Sweden