Estimated impact of alcohol on mortality in the Czech Republic

Estimated impact of alcohol on mortality in the Czech Republic

Journal Article

2013

Adiktologie

13

1

14 - 23

2013

12133841 (ISSN)

BACKGROUND: The Czech Republic is a country with a high intake of alcohol, which may cause both social and health problems. AIMS: The aim of this work is to estimate and analyse the degree of the impact of alcohol on mortality in the Czech Republic. DESIGN AND MEASUREMENTS: Analysis was performed using alcohol-attributable fractions (AAF) applied to data on mortality obtained from the Demographic Yearbook and data on the consumption of alcoholic beverages, both published by the Czech Statistical Office, as well as using data from the health survey of the Czech population carried out by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic. RESULTS: Our estimates indicate that in 2010 alcohol-related deaths accounted for about 10% and 2% of the total mortality rate (irrespective of the cause) among men and women respectively. Since 1994 total alcohol-related mortality has slightly increased, which is mainly due to a twofold increase in female alcohol-related mortality and, in terms of groups of causes of death, due to an increase in deaths fully caused by alcohol. CONCLUSION: Despite some protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption, alcohol has a negative impact on mortality in the Czech Republic. This negative impact has been shown especially for men and for people in the 35-54 age category.