1 / 21

Mortality in the former Soviet Union

Mortality in the former Soviet Union. Is it the vodka?. The short answer:. Yes. The Longer Answer:. Mortality Rates. Have fluctuated significantly over the last 20 years Decreased between 1984 and 1994, then sharply increased Have since declined to 1984 levels. Life expectancy.

earlene
Download Presentation

Mortality in the former Soviet Union

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Mortality in the former Soviet Union

  2. Is it the vodka?

  3. The short answer: Yes

  4. The Longer Answer:

  5. Mortality Rates • Have fluctuated significantly over the last 20 years • Decreased between 1984 and 1994, then sharply increased • Have since declined to 1984 levels.

  6. Life expectancy European Union Whole European Region Central & E. Europe Former Soviet Union

  7. Causes of death • Alcohol directly (e.g., acute alcohol poisoning) • Alcohol indirectly: • Homicide • Suicide • Accidents • Heart disease

  8. Who is dying? • Somewhat surprisingly, mortality rates for the most vulnerable portions of the population, the elderly and children, have remained stable • The deaths are occurring in 20 -45 year old men and women.

  9. Of what are they dying? • Pneumonias (alcohol related) • Sudden cardiac death (alcohol related) • Infectious diseases • Alcohol related diseases (cirrhosis and alcohol poisoning) • Accidents and violence (alcohol related) • Cancer of the female breast (alcohol related).

  10. CCEE =Countries of Central & Eastern EuropeEU=European Union NIS = newly independent states

  11. Of what are they not dying? • Neoplasms • Lung cancer deaths have actually declined, in spite of heavy tobacco use

  12. Vodka • Tends to be drunk in binges • Responsible for the deaths from acute alcohol poisoning • Mortality declined as consumption decreased in the mid 1980s as a result of Gorbachev’s reforms • Even though consumption of substitutes increased (perfume).

  13. It’s not just what you drink, it’s how you drink it • Conventional wisdom held that alcohol had a cardioprotective effect, regardless of the level of consumption • Data from Russia shows that binge drinking is associated with sudden cardiac death • Supported by data from Scotland “I don’t like Mondays” • Patients with no Hx of CAD likely to die on week ends or Mondays.

  14. Social problems • Interact with alcohol • For example, failure of regulatory bodies • Standards not enforced for building codes, so public safety is compromised • Significant deaths from drowning and fires (e.g., sprinklers do not work) • Enforcement of drunk driving laws lessened.

  15. Crime • Significantly increased • Somewhat area dependent • Accounts for deaths directly and indirectly.

  16. Poverty • Surprisingly, wealthier areas more affected • I.e., “the greatest declines in life expectancy are in those regions that were the wealthiest in 1990 and have subsequently experienced the smallest declines in household income” • Why? Perhaps due to previously high wages for hard manual labour jobs; in Russia the link between income and education was less than elsewhere.

  17. Health Services • Age groups affected are those with the least contact with health services • Causes of death relatively insensitive to medical care.

  18. Rapid Social Change • Has affected alcohol consumption • Is the associated despair also an independent factor?

More Related